Not seeing her enemies anywhere and having no idea where to look, Setsuna pulls out the Revelation Quill from her Handy Haversack and activates it. The Oracle uses her own arm as her scratch pad. She concentrates on rescuing Zoli from Delvahine and her lackeys.
The quill, somewhat painfully, takes a life of its own and begins writing out a cryptic poem, the ink as red as blood:
Passion grows, on Her whims
The struggle fails, as life's light dims
Beyond a wall of Spider's Silk
Death awaits one of your ilk.
Rilee turns her head to face the wall, her milky-white eyes in seeing but her senses remaining preternaturally keen. "There," she says, heedless of the scritching quill, pointing to the silk curtains where a small cord dangles that appears to work some sort of mechanism.
"Take Olympus with you; I'll go ahead."
Swiftly, her form flows to a rocky humanoid shape and she sinks under the ground. She rises up a few feet south of where her echolocation told her the wall was, and immediately casts a spell if her blindsense tells her that there are beings there.
Setsuna flies over to the cord that Rilee indicated and gives it a tug.
Unable to see what's going on, and unsure how to access the next portion of the pavilion, Eugeni bides his time, giving the large avian next to him a shrug. He looks to see what happens if anything after Setsuna pulls the cord. "Sounds like Zoli might be...in flagrante delicto," he comments to Setsuna.
The earthen form of Rilee rises up from the stone and casts her spell. The ground cracks and splits, issuing forth great, hoary tendrils and ancient vines that grasp and choke everything of evil countenance. However, for those not tainted by evil, the vines part and give way.
"I'm sorry, but I was mistaken. My dinosaur is devouring your giant pets. Your doom will be of another fashion," she says calmly.
Setsuna pulls the cord, and a ten foot section of the "wall" pulls apart, revealing...a cluster of massive black tendrils! Through their wiggling and writhing, she can smile we the earthen elemental form of Rilee looking to a far corner.
There, a nude Zoli can be seen panting on the floor in a nest of pillows and rugs. She is completely naked, panting, and covered in sweat. She looks around her in a haze of passion induced confusion. Her weapon, shield, armor, clothes, and other belongings are strewn around the room. Surrounding her, the tendrils have snatched up the still heavily wounded Zevashala and Eryalla. However, the tendrils seem entirely incapable of grasping Delvahine!
Delvahine turns to Rilee and snarls, "You think I will let this stand? Short sighted mortal! You will pay dearly for this!" she says before disappearing in a cloud of crimson smoke!
"She teleported...possibly very very far away," Eugeni informs the others.
Rilee shakes her rocky head in frustration.
"Eugeni, aren't we in some sort of pocket realm? Can she teleport out, or does she remain somewhere in this complex?"
With contempt, she turns to the trapped demons who didn't get away. "I don't suppose you would know where your mistress has gone? You don't have much time to bargain for your lives."
While listening for their reply, she studies Zoli's condition.
Meanwhile, her tentacles continue to squeeze.
The two remaining sister's cry out in agonizing pain as bones can be heard breaking. Those screams are soon enough muffled by the ever-persistent clutching of the tentacles, some choking off airways, others even forcing their way into their throats! Backs are broken at horrific angles, as are legs, arms, and wings. As Eryalla and Zevashala stop moving, the tendrils cease grasping at things.
Zoli still remains lieing on the floor, her upper body propped up by her elbows. Her naked halfling body covered in sweat and panting for breath.
"...and time's up," Rilee says flatly.
"It looks like Zoli is both dominated, and has had a large portion of her life force drained. Unfortunately I do not believe I can affect change in either condition at this time. Can one of you help her?"
Though her heart aches for Zoli, Rilee allows her rocky form to harden it for the moment. "Make sure you remove the mind control before you restore her, in case Delvahine left instructions with her. I'm going to check to see how my dino is doing with those giants. I'll yell if I locate her."
Rilee then sinks back into the ground and speeds back toward the entrance where she cautiously rises up partway to allow her echolocation to give her a sense of the battle.
Setsuna once again manages to dispel the Domination magic on Zoli and then flies over to her injured friend. She gently takes the Halfling's hand and then proceeds to Heal her and secure her mind against any further ill effects.
Eugeni hangs back for the moment, watching Setsuna work. That whole thing could have gone better. Then again, it could have been completely disastrous as well. We must exercise more caution in future endeavors.
The naked halfling holds as still as she's able amidst the writhing black tentacles, her skin ashen, her breathing shallow, her eyes empty. She looks nothing like the plucky, confident person Eugeni, Rilee, and Setsuna are used to.
As Setsuna's first spell washes over her, Zoli blinks and begins to look left and right--her eyes pools of animal terror and confusion, a long whimper coming from her lips.
At Setsuna's touch Zoli briefly makes eye contact. She suddenly seems to notice her nudity and reaches (weakly) for her blouse, holding it against her chest. She looks down, burying her chin in her chest, and starts to sob quietly.
In a bid to help her friend preserve her dignity, Setsuna starts gathering Zoli's possessions and placing them near the Halfling.
She wants to say something, but the Oracle suddenly finds herself afraid of saying the the wrong thing...
After collecting her thoughts, Setsuna decides to address the situation.
"We need to leave; Zoli is in no condition to continue, and I don't have the means to heal her. I'll try to Plane Shift us to Heaven or something. As for Delvahine, I doubt that she's getting out of here. The way we got in is closed, and there doesn't seem to be any other obvious exit."
Besides maybe the secret one presumably guarded by a legion of her enemies. The same exit detailed in the paperwork that we were sure to take, so Delvahine would never be able to learn about...
"Let's grab what we need - the Runeforge components, our dropped possessions, and some stuff for scrying her - and go."
Zoli's hunched shoulders seem to unwind a bit as Setsuna starts bringing her belongings over. With shaking hands, she starts to put on whatever Setsuna places before her.
As she dresses she mostly averts everyone's eyes, but occasionally she looks over at Eugeni and Rilee with eyes that seem to vacillate between sorrow and fear.
When Zoli sees her holy symbol of Chaldira Zuzaristan, she stares at for quite some time. She sets it down hesitantly, picks it back up frantically...and then buckles over in violent sobs.
Eugeni's face crumples as he awkwardly observes Zoli's reaction to her trauma. He seems frozen in place, aware that he should be helping somehow, but uncertain what to do.
Setsuna thoroughly searches the remains of Delvahine's domain for everything on her list.
1) The Runeforge components.
2) Any discarded items that belong to the group.
3) Anything useful that could be used to help scry Delvahine.
Despite recent events, Setsuna somehow manages to do a remarkable job of keeping her composure.
Once everything is gathered and stored away, Setsuna pulls out her tuning fork for Heaven and gathers everyone for the Plane Shifting.
"Nirvana and Elysium are lovely places, but given how orderly the place is, I think that Heaven would be our best bet to get what we need."
Setsuna glances at Zoli and takes a moment to kneel next to her smaller friend.
"...I truly wish that I knew what to say right now. Just know that I'm going to do everything in my power to help you, Zoli. If there is anything that you need, please let me know, and I will try my hardest to make it a reality."
Once everyone gathers in a circle and holds hands/talons, Setsuna attempts to warp the group to safe spot in Heaven...
"No."
A massive earth elemental rises up from the floor, covered in giant's blood. She had made sure no giants lived by the time her dinosaur faded back to the First World, then glided around to sense for signs of Delvahine.
"You have a slate that can tell us where she's gone. Where she's going next. We pursue, before she can charm more allies around her. Before she can harm anyone else. We can't afford to do anything less. Remember Rimeskull and the Shoanti?"
Setsuna sighs heavily at Rilee's defiance.
"One. You didn't see it happen, but I've already used the Revelation Quill today when I was trying to locate Zoli. It hasn't been a full week since Rimeskull, so we can't use its secondary power either. It's a paperweight right now."
"Two. Too late for that. Delvahine's had several minutes to charm up some more allies. That's also assuming that she would be able to best the other residents of this place in their own domains after burning a lot of resources on us while not being in the best shape herself. According to Vraxeris, no one here besides him and Delvahine were allies, and he's dead."
"Three. I used a lot of magic keeping everyone alive. I do have some resources left, but Delvahine will just teleport away again when the going gets tough. I need some time to prepare a better loadout to fight her."
"Four," Setsuna says switching to Auran. "...I'd rather not put Zoli through any more trauma today. She's had a lot of her life force drained, Rilee! She probably won't survive the next encounter in this state!"
Rilee can tell that Setsuna is straining to be diplomatic.
The rocky form shakes its head. In a rumbling Terran, she says, "I've barely used half my powers so far. I expect Eugeni has much of his power left, too, stymied as he was for much of this fight. I can give Zoli a temporary respite from her wounds. We should stay, and invite a counter-attack. Let her think we're spent and vulnerable. Who knows what sort of advantage she could gain if we left this place entirely?"
When her boyfriend is mentioned, Setsuna glances briefly at Eugeni and grits her teeth but says nothing specific about why.
"That's beside the point!" Setsuna answers in Terran. "Rilee, is Zoli in any shape mentally to continue right now?"
The rock remains unmoving as stone. "Is any of us? Yet we must."
"That's heartless, Rilee," Setsuna replies angrily.
Setsuna switches back to Common.
"Let's look at this another way, shall we? Delvahine can probably teleport at will. She could be anywhere in this blasted Runeforge. Without divination, where do we even start? What if she's hiding with another group? Are we in any shape to fight another wing of sin that's at full strength? In their own domains?!
"What if she returns and hits us with another alpha strike? If anyone gets dominated, then it's over. Zoli can cut us to ribbons. Eugeni can reduce us to a blood smears on the wall with a flick of his wrist. She'll make you order Olympus to rip us to pieces. Me? I'd be the last thing you never see! I don't have enough Protection from Evils to keep us safe forever, Rilee!"
And we don't exactly have a stellar record of resisting her spells either.
Setsuna leaves that part unsaid, but she figures that the group is well aware of that reality.
"So how exactly do you expect us to fight an enemy that can teleport at will when we have no hints, clues, or ideas about where she might be? When you aren't going to let me so much as rest for a better spell loadout to fight her? We have no hints, clues, or ideas about where she might be! If we go down the wrong hallway, then we're fighting another group of foes who'd be at full strength! And if we somehow survive, what happens if she attacks us then? When we're even weaker?!"
"My Paragon Surge is spent for the day. No more emergency spells. The Revelation Quill is a paperweight. No more precognition. I'm really low on Heals. What happens if someone gets blinded again? Or poisoned? Or Feebleminded? Or just plain beaten into the dirt?!"
Setsuna forces herself to calm down. Maybe a compromise will work?
"...If you're so insistent on hunting her down, then at least, at least let me get some better spells for the job! Locate Creature and Dimensional Anchor perhaps? A full set of Heals would be nice too! I'll need two and half hours, and we'll need to take some steps to ensure that she can't just turn us on each other via ambush. Off the top of my head, I can Veil us all as fruit flies, and there needs to be some sort of delay time between Olympus, Eugeni, or Zoli being able to act. Maybe Olympus becomes a statue while Eugeni and Zoli hide under some pillows or something..."
While more ideal, Setsuna finds herself unable to suggest the Eugeni willingly blinds himself somehow or Zoli departs with her sword...
"We can't afford to just charge after her in rage... We need to think this through. We need to plan. We need to be smart. If I had... rubbed two brain cells together before we entered this... damn place, I would've... remembered... to... cast... Protection from Evil..."
Setsuna finds herself stuttering and tearing up.
"...Eugeni, can you fly again?"
Eugeni starts floating, resuming his typical cross-legged position with a huff. He hovers over to Rilee and takes her hand in one of his. "I agree with Setsuna, Rilee. It's plain to see you are furious. Despite that, until we have a way to stop the demon from teleporting, there is no point in going after her. If we go on fully prepared, and exercise more caution and less of the arrogance had us walking into this wing unprotected, I am confident that we will be able to handle anything the demon throws at us. A couple of hours is unlikely to be long enough for her to secure new allies, and if it is long enough, then it is probably already too late to prevent it. This fight would have been relatively easy had our minds been shielded from demonic influence...Besides, Zoli needs time. She's not an automaton, and clearly her emotional reaction to being mentally and physically violated is impacting her ability to perform right now...." he trails off awkwardly, gesturing to the weeping halfling. "You would require your own kin to seek revenge before the wounds from her rape are even healed? I thought you more wise than that." Eugeni raises one spiked eyebrow, pinning the stony druid to the floor with his own unwavering reptilian gaze.
The massive, unseeing stone head turns to face Eugeni unerringly. it asks sounding like a boulder rolling downhill. "What do any of us know about wisdom?
"Is it wise to flee this place with no certainty we'll be able to return? Is it wise to give Delvahine the time to recruit more allies? Is it wise to let Zoli's hurt and shame take root in her by delaying?"
Conversation slipping in and out of languages she understands doesn't seem to bother Zoli, but as tensions rise and voices are raised in anger, Zoli shrinks back--hugging her knees tighter, scooting toward some cushions in the corner--and continues to cry.
The giant elemental tries to block out the sound of the crying. It was rock. It was stone. It had no heart in this form; it could not bleed. It did not have to feel if it chose not to.
And it chose...
It chose...
The rock disappears with an anguished, high-pitched cry. In its place, a small halfling races over to Zoli and hugs her fiercely.
"My dear. My sweet, sweet dearest, I'm so sorry. My baby, my child, I'm here. I'm here."
She cradles her in her lap and rocks her gently, stroking her hair. Her words become incoherent through her tears, and she just coos to her daughter.
When Zoli looks up and sees Ryllibelle coming her way, the ashen halfling gasps and wraps her arms around her mother as tightly as her weakened arms can manage.
As she lays there, eyes closed, her moans grow softer.
"Mama...mama..." she breathes. Then, after a few minutes of rocking her body relaxes further and Zoli falls sound asleep.