"NO!" she screams, repeating the word as a broken record. "NO,NO. NOOOOOOO!" Inam's eyes mist with the liquid of a young girl, as she reaches out to touch the fallen companion. A bright white beam shoots into her from the heavens and proceeds to engulf Etrah.
Seeing by Volcano's grace, the chicken is safe for the moment, steam explodes from her eyes...the water evaporated. With uncharacteristic grace, Inam leaps to her feet, drawing the blade of the forge in a fluid motion. "You are not of Volcano. You will soon join your darkspawn brothers UNDINE FILTH!"
Weakly, Etrah coughs as the wounds seem to seal on their own. Spying the traitorous blade still close by, the fowl curls into a position of relative safety, burying his beak under his wing.
The mouth of the body moves, but the rest of the body is still. In Oread, she replies, "Uphi isihluthulelo esivula iminyango eminingi?"
As the undines words span the gap between the elen, a crimson light envelops Inam and Etrah. The glow seemingly emanates from the chicken, but it looks just as surprised as the sylph as she begins to succumb to So Khong.
Managing to shake free, she frowns at the man. "Taispeánann an bolcán mo chairde ar an gcreatúr seo, in éag nach dtéann mé deireadh air." she mutters, squinting in his direction.
Moving towards the supposed spiritual leader, she growls. "I suggest you submit. I'd hate to be forced to become violent."
"SqwaCK' exclaims the defensive bird as the strange sensation envelopes him. Wriggling free of the strange magics, he turns to Inam. "CaW CAW" and points a wing towards the offending man.
Share Will: Whenever an emissary or its master fails a save against a mind-affecting effect that affects only one of them, the other can choose to attempt the save as well.
If this second save succeeds, treat the original save result as a success, and the emissary and its master can’t use this ability again for 24 hours. On a failure, both the emissary and its master suffer the effects of the failed saving throw, even if one of them wouldn’t ordinarily be a valid target
The oread is still standing in the middle of the room, with no further violence in her stance. Her eyes are open now, but staring straight ahead.
"Ungakhulumi ulimi, uphuza umchamo."
"I'm not worthy?! Of course not, I'm a sylph, but I'm learning. What about you?" she cries out. "You are supposed to be the leader of the Temple on this plane, yet you are full of lies? DECEIT?! HOW CAN YOU CALL YOURSELF VOLCANOS SERVANT?!"
Taking a deep breath, Inam tries to steady herself, but failing. "YOU ATTACKED MY HERALD!" Swinging her blade at the man, she cries out to the Warrior. "Please give me the power to smite this evil in your name!"
Your blade shines with a blinding white light that So Khong shrinks away from. Your sword slices through his chest, leaving a deep gash that sizzles and smokes. Dropping his own blade, he clutches the wound with his left hand. Stepping slightly back, he makes another eldritch gesture with his right hand, making a fist. "以眼还眼..."
You feel no obvious attack upon yourself this time. So Khong watches you with a sneer as blood begins to soak his robes.
for
"You better not! Submit and Repent or face the Warrior's wrath!" exclaims Inam, her voice ragged; breathing heavily. "I warn you, sir. Don't test me!"
Barely able to control herself, the sylphs muscles tense against her instincts. Screaming for her to end this, she waits.
Sucking in a breath and just staring at the oread in confusion. The dead are to remain dead. Letting out her head breath in a gasp and moving between the revenant and Ibinu and Bian with her hands help up, letting her polearm clatter to the ground, "Ukuthula! Akudingekile ubudlova. Ngitshele okuningi kwalesi sikhiye futhi ngizokuthola."
So Khong smiles. It is the first time you have ever seen him do so. His eyes do not change; it is more akin to a crocodile displaying its teeth.
Lurching down to one knee, he says nothing. He is holding the first wound with his left hand. With his right hand, he...dips his index finger deep into the gash. He begins drawing a symbol on the obsidian floor.
Your second attack connects, nearly severing his left arm. He does not cry out in pain; he continues to meticulously write in his own blood.
You are surprised as some of the white energy from your sword arcs back at you Some unspoken instinct tells you this was the result of So Khong's last spell - reflecting your damage back at you.
The oread's body convulses as celerity arcs around it in bright blue coils. Bian is temporarily dumbfounded at the sequence of events. After Kallik speaks up, the oread says,
"Angibekezelele. Unekhandlela elilodwa ukuletha ukhiye, noma izingane zakithi zizophindisela njengoba zibona kufanelekile."
The naked, rune-covered body sinks to the floor to assume a cross-legged pose. Waiting.
"EWWW!" exclaims the sylph at the sight. "Hey! That hurt... Submit So Khong! Submit to the Warrior!"
With sadness and pain in her eyes, Inam raises her holy blade high. With but a glance towards Etrah, the holy vindication takes hold of her again.
Chancing it, Etrah hops up from his fetal position and looks towards the sigils So Khong is inscribing. Using it's connection with the god it serves, the creature attempts to identify what the man is doing.
He attempts to gurgle a last utterance. "Loo..."
The gurgle turns to choking. Then the choking stops. With agonizing slowness, the dying elen falls to the floor in spasmodic jerks, too stubborn and proud to give up life without a bitter struggle. The dark blue hands curl into claws, and he is still.
When they leave to go find Inam he will quaff the elixir of Cure Moderate Wounds (using the same roll).
Pointing at the runes, Etrah attempts to inform the student of his discovery.
"Bbbbrawwk. Caw Ca"
Looking towards the corpse and back to Etrah, the realization of what just occurred sets in.
"Oh my! Your rigjt...I just killed So Khong! Umm...this isn't good. Quick! Let's get the others!" she exclaims, bolting from the room, she leads the annoyed bird back to their quarters.
Throwing the door open, she shouts, "We have a problem! Get up!"
Inam, as you open the door to exit So Khong's chambers, you almost bowl Ibinu over - he is just about to open the door. He has a recently healed bruise on his face.
Ibinu, you see a wild-eyed, blood-covered Inam emerge from So Khong's chambers.
Nodding, "Go get Inam. Bian could you get bring that Inquisitor you had helping us. I think this is worthy of interrupting her."
Ignoring her dropped weapon but opting for the potentially dumber option and sitting down in the same pose that the revenant is in. "Ngicela ungitshele ukuthi kungani udinga ukhiye. Uma ngiyazi kangcono ukuthi ngingasiza."
"What the !!! Are you okay?!?"
Bian nods at your suggestion. You are now alone with the dead oread who is somehow walking and speaking.
"Izingane zakithi ziye zawela emnyango. Ngidinga ukuthola. Kungani ungenaso izimbali?"
You are taken aback by the abrupt change in subject, until you remember that she also has no flowers in her pale green hair.
Unconsciously raising a hand to the red wooden flower in her hair, "I was born without them. The Forest did not feel I needed the colorful ornamentation like my kin so I do not have them."
Is the door death? Does she not realize that they are all dead?Linking her fingers together and resting her hands on her lap before continuing, "Will you tell me about them, please?"
Eye's wide, Inam looks up and down the hallway, before grabbing the sylph man by the shoulder and yanking him into the room. Slamming the door shut behind him, she takes a deep breath; blood running down her shoulder and dripping upon the floor.
"Uh....so....uh....I killed So Khong." she states, rather matter-of-fact. "But he was evil! I swear!" she blurts out. Halfway pointing towards the corpse and half scrawled rune, she frowns. "We're in trouble...aren't we...?"
The bewildered Inam's eyes keep darting towards the door. Finally, she tries to drag the elen's desk to block entrance to the room.
If Inam takes a moment he will inspect the body and scene, looking for anything of note. He carefully avoids getting blood on himself, even using a clean cloth as a barrier if he has to move the body.
Taking a few rapid, shallow breaths, Inam bursts into her expose. "Well.you.see....So Khong called me here for Morning prayers. I did as he told me but ...then. I.heard.Etrah.scream.in.pain.and.when.I.looked.he.had. stabbed.hi-m!"
Pausing to take another shallow, breath, she bursts forward again, trying to get it all out at once. "He.threatened.to.kill.both.of.us....Said I wasn't worthy; I'm not. But.then.he.attacked.again.And.I.saw.evill....I....I killed him."
Looking over to the dead elen again, she frowns. More calmly, she adds "I asked him to surrender. I tried to not kill him. As he died, he started drawing....that thing? So, what do we do now?"
"Should I go find the watch and turn myself in? This wasn't like when we killed the darkspawn. He did attack me, but he's the temple leader. I'm just a sylph..."
Ibinu looks over Inam and Etrah with a small frown, "are either of you injured?" If either say yes, then he will provide them with a Cure Light Wounds Elixir.
The shadow of a smile plays against the oread's lips. "Abangane bami. Silwa ngokumelene..." The smile fades. The oread grabs the sides of her head, shutting her eyes tight. Then, falling down from her sitting position, she begins screaming very loudly. The sound echoes terribly in the small obsidian chamber.
There is nothing of note in the room, beyond a half-decapitated inquisitor and the bloody, smiling rune he left behind. The chamber is austere, with only an altar to Volcano in one corner and a writing desk in another corner. There is a bowl for washing near a thin blanket.
Ibinu tries to decipher the symbol and regardless of his conclusions he tries to copy it as best he can in the margins of his formula book. He looks over at the twitchy female sylph and much calmer fowl. "Hmm... Okay. Wash off the blood and get yourself presentable. We need to move through the temple discretely or many more people may be harmed tonight. This can be dealt with later."
As Inam cleans herself up he carefully explains what they found with Bian, where their allies are right now and the demands with the threats made by the abomination. He will encourage Inam to hurry but make sure she appears clean before they leave.
Slowly regaining her composure, Inam begins washing up as best she can. As she touches one of the open wounds, a surge of power lashes out. "Aiyee!"
Giggling at her own response, she smiles "I suppose I should be getitng used to that, huh?" Listening intently to Ibinu's summation, she frowns. "So the dead elen aren't dead anymore? And for some reason they want me? This can't be good... As for So Khong, I suppose we can wait to deal with this, but we shouldn't wait too long. The longer we wait, the more likely someone will suspect foul play."
"Lets hurry to deal with your issue first. And I suppose we better hope no one asks about the high servant before we have a chance to clear this up..." replies Inam. Lifting Etrah to her shoulder, she turns to leave, following Ibinu.
Instinct forces Kallik to scoot backwards but she quickly scrambles on her hands and knees to be right next to the screaming corpse. "Stop screaming, please stop screaming! I am sorry I asked!" Reaching out to grab the oread's shoulders and trying to catch her gaze.
Ibinu, you make a very good copy of the symbol (which looks oddly like a smiling mouth) in your notebook. Unfortunately, nothing comes to your mind at the moment - you feel that an obscure rune such as this would need to be researched in a library.
Ibinu and Kallik, you carefully traverse the Temple courtyard and open the door to the obsidian cube. The runed oread is screaming - Ibinu quickly closes the door and you hope no one has heard. You see Kallik holding the oread body, either attempting to restrain or comfort her.
As the door closes, the oread's head snaps toward Inam. In a hoarse whisper, she says, "Isihluthulelo...izinyembezi zesihluthulelo..." She begins shaking violently, and black vitriol trickles from her mouth.
The key...the tears of the key...
Ibinu translates for Inam and says they earlier discovered that "the Key" may refer to her. He is careful to speak quietly and not in Oread, attempting to not re-annoy the thing currently twitching violently.
He follows that up with a whisper in Sylph, "má tá sé ar intinn agat deora a chur ar fáil, ba mhaith liom smaoineamh ar do chuid gníomhartha le déanaí. Tá mé cinnte go raibh teaghlach grámhara aige atá ag fanacht sa bhaile anois chun a ndaidí a thabhairt ar ais."
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"Hamba, cha, cha, cha, cha!" Starting to feel panic flood her veins and turning the oread on her side so she does not choke. Bending her head down close to the oread's ear, "Sizama ukuthola ukhiye. Sicela ungahambi."
We are trying to find the key. Please don't go.
Frowning at the news shared by Ibinu, she replies "Tá teaghlach aige ?! Bhí sé olc ... ach ... páistí olc ?!" with tears welling up in the elen's eyes, she turns to Etrah with a shriek. "Volcano's will! I don't think I can kill a kid, evil or not."
Glancing towards Bian and Kallik, she adds as an explanation as a tear begins to travel down her cheek, "Oh, I...uh...killed So Khong..."
"He has a family?! He was evil...but...evil kids?!"
With but a strange sounding sigh, Etrah simply shakes his head in response to the emotional paladin.
Ibinu quickly collects a few of the streaming tears and whispers, "sorry, I didn't want to run out of time to provide the key." He takes the vial to Kallik, handing it over.
He looks back at Inam questioningly, "Chomh maith leis sin, ní dóigh liom go n-oibríonn olc mar sin..."
Twitching when Kallik feels a hand on shoulder. Twisting her and around and snatching the vial. Holding it in front of the reverant face, "Izinyembezi, bheka sizitholile. Sicela!" Falling silent after her voice breaks.
The voice is just barely audible to Kallik. "Am- Amehlo wami..." Kallik, you feel a sudden stabbing pain as the oread's clawed hand sinks into your neck. The muscular arm is now veined with black corruption.