Ophelia quickly heads back towards Walter - Laznist seemed comfortable he could deal with the remaining thugs. Perhaps they would even take Tieszlas offer! As she heads towards the fallen scholar her free arm rotates 180° and she digs a scroll out of her pack.
The two cultists scoff at Tieszla's threat, brandishing their picks and taking swings at the Inquisitor.
The one who stood in the doorway and tried to cast a spell on Laznist isn't nearly as secure in their faith, and begins to make a mad dash further down the cavern.
Shang calmly sheathes his dagger and pulls out his crossbow as he moves to approach the fleeing cultist.
The first pick swung at Tieszla ricochets off of her breastplate and then tears viciously into her arm at the unprotected flesh of the inner elbow. Instantly, she can feel the warm sticky of blood as it pours from the wound and down her forearm. She grimaces momentarily but is quickly distracted as the second cultist's attack also finds its mark, the sharp tip of the mining tool piercing straight through her intricately etched armour and into her midriff.
Tieszla's eyes flash angrily at the sight of the hole that remains when the pick is withdrawn. A small growl escapes her throat when swings her weapon at the cultist who'd created it.
Laznist starts to stumble after the fleeing cultist, but at the first step his injured leg fells like it has caught on fire and he stops, quickly.
!!!! Going to have to leave that one to Shang... unless...
Ophelia completes the final steps up to Walter and solemnly starts to read the scroll out loud. The magic takes hold and closes the old man's wounds.
After it is done, she peers down at the man and offers him a hand. "Welcome back to unconsciousness Walter!" Her tone his happier then before when she sees him stirring again.
uungg.
Walther opens his eyes and looks up at Ophelia.
Did we win then? I was rather hoping for a somewhat less violent response to my speech.
"Win?" She looks down with reflective eyes at him. "Most of them are no longer standing. That should be sufficient?" She continues.
The fled cultist is clear out of Laznist's line of sight by the time his spell is readied, but one of the others decides to flee as they realize the numbers, only to be cut down by the arcane bolts. The other tries to strike the weakened Inquisitor once more, but is quickly cut down by Tieszla and Navia.
Laznist collapses, his injured leg simply giving way beneath him as the adrenaline wears off.
Desperately wadding a handkerchief against the wound he looks around at his injured companions
"Hnuh. I can keep going... but I'm almost all out. That was much, much harder than I expected. How's Walther? Heck, how is everyone? Navia? Tieszla? Shang? Ophelia? Still ticking along?"
every... freaking... time
I can do something about the injuries with my wand. But the question remains, do we press on? Any more resistance like that, and we could be killed, leaving no one to stop these people. But if we retreat, our incursion will be discovered quickly enough and the cultists will either better prepare their defences, change locations, or send their demon directly after us.
Shang shrugs. "That's why we press on."
Ophelia follows half a step behind Walter as he heals the others, peering over and around his shoulder with curious eyes. When the turn comes to Laznist she helps pull him too back onto his legs and responds to his query.
"I am fine - I wound this morning. That will be the least of our troubles." She gives a hollow laugh and continues. "I have most of my magic left - but it won't help slaying cultists, merely ward from their strikes."
When everyone is back on their feet again Ophelia goes over the cultists, pulling back their hoods. It would be a cruel trick of fate it he was among them - but perhaps...
Laznist picks up his longspear and uses it as a crutch until Walther heals him.
"Woah! That's much better, thanks Walther."
Tieszla thanks Walther for his ministrations while she pats down and swiftly rummages through the pockets of first one nearby corpse and then another.
"Our task is to bring the murderers and heathens to justice," she says to him as she moves to the next dead cultist, searching for anything that might constitute a clue, "It is not to alert the murderers and heathens that we are hot on their tail and then retreat so they can scatter and hide like the vermin they are. We must continue forward."
Once she has checked each ofl the corpses, turning out all of their pockets, Tieszla considers what she has managed to find.
The cultists have very little. Just Unholy Symbols of Zyphus, Leather Armor, and their picks. The slain overseer has a bit more; his robes hide several sewn-in pouches full of food, several vials of Unholy Water, and a small vial of poison, in addition to his armor and pick.
The normal cultists are all similarly emaciated, and the people have a myriad of cuts and scrapes, plus the occasional injury that didn't heal properly due to their continued working.
Both glad and saddened that Polo wasn't among the cultists Ophelia rips off strips of their clothes to bind their arms and legs of the live ones - should they regain their senses. But when broken, they tend to fall apart further. Perhaps we will not have to worry. the clockwork observes. They fix themselves so slowly without magic.
With all the cultists firmly secured, she sheaths her sword and readies the cultist's dagger. With a quick Prestidigitation the splatter of blood and other marks of battle disappear from her stolen robe and she once more readies herself to form the vanguard. With the hood pulled up as much as possible, only her voice betrays her.
"Shall we go again ? I can scout again."
Laznist nods shakily. Following Ophelia's lead he dons a robe.
Shang joins the main group, attempting to cover his loaded crossbow under the folds of his borrowed robe.
The caverns continue downward for a a couple minutes before making a sharp turn and opening up into a fifty feet square of carved out space. Desks, cabinets, weapon racks, and the like all sit across this well furnished area, with the two distant corners of the room both reaching out further down manmade hallways. There seems to be nobody present at the moment.
Laznist mutters briefly, scans his head slowly as if looking around, then shrugs
Ophelia approaches the 'room' with caution, well aware of the cultists love of traps. While it seemed foolish to trap what appeared to be some sort of office, one could never be too sure.
This seems suspicious, I had expected further resistance. Perhaps they acid the area because they know it is unsafe? Let me have a look around before we proceed please.
Laznist is able to detect no magic, and Walther is able to spot four tripwire arrow traps set across the floor, each set roughly a stride and a half apart, staggered to run the best risk of someone triggering one.
Look there Ophelia; there are tripwires across the floor, attached to arrow traps. Can you disable them?
Following Walters directions, Ophelia notices the thin wires stretched across the room. For a short moment she merely stares at them with empty eyes, but then she animates. "Yes. I should be able to." She retrieves a pair of clippers and another unidentified tool from her backpack and gets to work. Feeling no pressure to rush the job, she sits down with the first trap and methodically pulls it apart.
Ophelia piece by piece disables the four tripwires without trouble, even if it takes a while.
"Well... I'm not seeing any magic. Once Ophelia's done, we continue on? Anyone got any idea what those guys were doing?"
Tieszla waits patiently while Walther and Ophelia locate then disarm the traps in the room ahead of them. Like Navia, fine detail work is not her forte; bashing, slashing and smashing are. She does appreciate that it is in her best interest to give them all the time they need rather than blunder about recklessly though.
While waiting, Tieszla retrieves a rag from her backpack and cleans the blood from the wound on her elbow, now mostly healed thanks to Walther. She wipes some spatters from her breastplate as well and then pauses, a frown creasing her face as she picks at the hole the cultist punched into it. Her pinky slips easily through--through the leather tunic and rough spun cotton shirt she wears underneath her armour as well. The brothers in the armory will doubtlessly be up to the task of repairing it but the torn metal is quite sharp on the inside in the meantime. She stuffs the rag into the hole a little bit at a time, lodging it into a position between her belly and the jagged underside of the crater.
"Damn... You want me to fix that? The breastplate I mean. I've got something that works pretty good on patching things together, except Oph..." Lznist's brain desperately tries to stop his mouth finishing the word, but is too late, simply strangling it a little. "elia"
Tieszla's eyes flick briefly in the clockwork's direction when Laznist's words hitch in his mouth but Ophelia seems very intent on the task at hand. The Inquisitor doubts she even heard what was said.
"If it does compromise your ability to defend yourself or defeat our foes to do so, I would be grateful."
Laznist starts chanting, gathering loops of arcane energy to stitch together over the hole.
Ophelia doesn't notice much except her task-at-hand. Humming softly the melody of some lullaby she disarms the traps, looking up only when done.
"Done." She pockets the spare parts - they might come in handy later. Then she stands up and looks around, noticing Laznist crouched over Tieszlas armour. "What are you doing there?" she glances at Tieszla with worried eyes. "You are not broken, are you? I thought Walter put everyone back together ..."
After satisfying her curiosity and bothering Laznist, she is all ready to continue.
Shang joins Ophelia in the task of removing the traps. "I might not be as clever or skilled as you, Ophelia, but I know a thing or two about dissection. You lead, but if you need an extra pair of hands, these old things will help."
"Help is always appreciated Shang" Ophelia nods in appreciation.