Ibinu and Etrah disrupt the minor inquisitors' chanting, causing their spell to fizzle.
Inam's sword flares bright red as she cuts through the left-most guards chain. The flaming blade melts the chain as it passes through. The guard shakes his head, and looks confused. He drops his sword.
Kallik savages the assassin with her claws, tearing into his face. One of his eyes closes with purple bruising.
failure means
constitution damage
---
The (now) two unfriendly guards continue to attack Inam.
The assassin is overwhelmed by Kallik's fury, and falls unconscious from his wounds.
The friendly guards move to help Kallik - they have not noticed she has subdued him.
---
The two minor inquisitors turn to Ibinu. Their blank eyes show nothing. They both cast a faster spell in tandem - two ghostly long swords appear next to Ibinu and attack.
Locatelli, now far away, disappears around the corner.
"Etrah! The chains that bind them are your target!" she calls out over the din of the crowd. Pointing with her sword to the newly freed inquisitor, she commands "Help Ibinu. He needs to be released to stop the villain!"
Without another word, she turns to the next opponent in the line and slashes again for the binding magic.
Charging forward the last ten feet in the same spiral, the phoenix rams into the inquisitor. Attempting to aim himself to just hit the chains binding him.
He yells out, "Damn Cladhaire is running!"
Not caring for his own safety, he bolts after the Inquisitor.
Waviering on her feet and twisting towards the nearest foot fall. Raising her claws and lashing out again.
Ibinu sprints around guards, making a beeline toward the inquisitor.
Inam strikes true again, releasing another guard.
Both of the released guards attempt to break the chain of the third guard, but miss.
Etrah pecks at one of the inquisitor's chains, but it appears to have no effect.
Kallik, now fully in the throes of rage, lands three brutal slashes on the nearest guard, one you have seen before but never formally met. His eyes go wide with surprise as one of the Blessed attacks him. Kallik's claws dig deep gouges into his side, and blood pours out. The guard's face goes pale with shock, and he falls to the ground.
---
The last unfriendly guard continues to attack Inam.
The friendly guards act. Three of them move toward Kallik. They do not attack, but they cautiously step forward until they are within sword range. Lui calls, Stop this madness! What is wrong with you, Blessed?"
---
The two minor inquisitors keep their attention on Inam now. They direct their ghostly weapons to attack her.
Locatelli looks over his shoulder and sees Ibinu gaining on him. He turns around, drawing a longbow as he does so. He snarls three hate-filled words - "Worshiper of nothing!" and lets an arrow fly.
What is my current distance to Locatelli?
120 ft.
Ibinu returns the taunt with a common one from his childhood, ”at least I know what faith is... I can’t just look outside and see my god!”
Pulling out his crossbow he fires at Locatelli. I just have to keep him close... and survive! Focusing for a second, he tries to will his body to eject the arrow and speed up the clotting process.
for
"HA!" cries out Inam at Etrah's attempt to subdue the casters. "Why don't you go help Ibinu." she calls out. Turning to the two freed guards, she commands "Keep those casters busy. I've got this guy."
With a frown as the paladin glances back to see how Kallik is handling himself, she pleads "Dear friend of the diamond depths, please try to aim your anger better. Those elen are on the side of the righteous."
Gently touching the wound, another red light surges from her hands and sears the wound closed. Though the controlled guards have continued to strike her, she somehow looks healthier than when the fight started.
Raising her blade a third time, she slashes at the bindings of the remaining guard.
"Right." replies Etrah, blushing slightly.
Turning away from the casting creatures, he soars away with big, broad strokes of his wings.
Etrah will fly towards the sylph and cast 'Aid' on him.
Etrah will either double move (120ft) or 'run' (up to 300ft) to get adjacent to him.
Letting out a rumbling growl as her quarry moves closer and wildly lashing out with her claws.
Ibinu scores a hit on Locatelli, which only seems to enrage him.
Inam misses the chain of the final guard.
Both of the released guards nod and follow Inam's order. The run full tilt to engage one of the minor inquisitors each, but are unable to attack this round.
Etrah spends the round flying to get adjacent to Ibinu.
Kallik lands one swipe on Sophia. She cries out in pain and surprise.
---
The friendly guards act. Sheathing their weapons, they weep in confusion and fear as they are forced to grapple and subdue Kallik.
The last unfriendly guard continues to attack Inam.
---
The two minor inquisitors keep their spiritual weapons trained on Inam. They draw daggers as they see the freed guards approach them.
Locatelli now seems determined to kill Ibinu. He goes back another thirty feet, widening the gap between Ibinu to 150 feet. The arrow streaks through the air, carrying a foul black electricity with it.
Tugging against them and forcing herself to go still, though her muscles twitch. Growling, "Let me go. My fight it not with you!"
"I am not your enemy!" cries Inam, rubbing her wounds again. "The High Inquisitor is the villain this day!"
With a quick slash, she brings her blade down again.
Twirling around in place, Etra's feathers begin to glow again. This time a bright coral hue envelopes him "May the Warrior's grace see you through this!" he calls out, pecking the sylph lightly on the cheek.
"I'll follow your lead." he adds.
Cast Aid as standard. Ready to move up to 60ft if Ibinu moves, attempting to stay adjacent.
Grunting as the arrow slams into his body, Ibinu's heart soars as the phoenix blesses him. His hope restored he settles in for a longer battle.
He focuses again on his body, trying to get it to continue healing and adds a suggestion to Etrah, "try to line up another of those fire blasts. Maybe it'll throw off his aim. If he turns on you, make it hard on him to hit.
He steps up, loads his crossbow and fires while trying to dodge the return arrow.
for
Ibinu misses.
Inam snaps the chain of the final guard.
All of the released guards go after the chains of the minor inquisitors. One of the good guards helps as well. Both chains are snapped, and the inquisitors spiritual weapons blink out of existence.
Etrah casts Aid on Ibinu.
---
The friendly guards move to aid the guard that Kallik nearly killed.
Kallik closes most of the distance toward Ibinu.
---
The two minor inquisitors blink slowly as they are freed from control.
Locatelli squints past Ibinu, seeing that his now-freed guards have also liberated the minor inquisitors. With a look of hate, he makes a gesture with his left hand and fades from sight.
Ibinu slams an elixir down, wary of another attack. He looks around at the carnage and reloads his crossbow. "Etrah! Can you see where he went?"
As you survey your surroundings, you notice three things: the unconscious assassin; the dying guard that Kallik attacked; and the crowd, which is beginning to surge up the front steps, enraged at the attack upon the herald of Volcano.
Twisting around and letting out a scream in frustration.
Kallik closes most of the distance toward Ibinu.
Seeing the rage still in control Ibinu yells at Inam, "SAVE THE GUARD, I'll HOLD OFF KALLIK!"
If Kallik rushes Ibinu, he will go into Total Defense (+4 AC) and hope Kallik is too aggressive with his attacks that he can take advantage of it to dodge.
If Kallik rushes the guard, he will attempt to dive between and soak the attack.
Even if neither option is feasible, he will try to break through the rage, pleading, "THIS ISN'T YOU! YOU ARE IN CONTROL! NOT YOUR CURSE!"
With a nod to Ibinu, Etrah replies "I'll try." and zooms ahead.
Once in position, he cries out "Volcano! Show me the traitor!"
"I will! Be careful, she's not thinking clearly" she calls out to the alchemist. Rushing towards the fallen guard, Inam advises. "All is not lost. Let me see him and through the Warrior's grace, he shall be saved."
The red lilght engulfs her hand again as she reaches the guard. Touching his gaping wounds, the power of the Mighty One surges into the elen.
Flexing her clawed fingers and snarling at Ibinu.
Etrah does not catch any glimpses of the inquisitor's aura.
The guard gasps under Inam's healing touch. He is alive, but disoriented.
The crowd continues to climb and yell - they are about halfway about the stairs.
Ibinu will yell to the remaining guards to try to calm the crowd down by assuring them Inam is fine and will address everyone very shortly after tending to the wounded guards.
Lashing out at Ibinu again before stumbling backwards with a horrified look on her face. Gulping in ragged breaths as quickly as she can while looking around. Turning back to Ibinu and whispering, "I'm sorry." before looking around again.
Ibinu wraps Kallik up in a hug, genuinely worried about her running away from this. Holy crap, is she made of stone or something!
He whispers to her, "I accept your apology. I'm glad you aren't running away from your actions. Let's just take this one small step at a time." His arms still wrapped around, he moves Kallik to where she can see Inam and the guard. "See? You did not kill him. We were lucky. Let's go see what Inam wants to do next and maybe you can talk to the guard."
"You're ok. Volcano has seen to your health." she coos to the guard. "I am sorry for my friendly crag over there. The experiments done by the temple seem to have left him...well there have been side affects..."
Turning back to the scene before her, she scans to field. 'Alright, seems Etrah is searching for the Inquisitors lost soul....Ibinu is hugging Kallik...he must be feeling better then. Oh my!'
Holding her hands up, she approaches the triangle on the stage. "Uh...hello there. All is...well...the current situation has been handled..." she begins, glancing back towards the bloody stage.
'Dear warrior...what do I say? Everythings good now? That'd be a lie though...won't do any good to cause a riot or worse...' **Shudder** 'A civil war?!'
Taking a deep breath, she calls out "Please calm yourselves. As I stated before, the only good way to pull through these times is to do it together. We can NOT continue to old methods of the Temple. The scheming...the back door deals...the murdering...it can NOT go on. If this city is to regain The Warriors grace, we must do it the right way!"
Pausing to wipe the beads of fluid from her brow, she looks towards the crowd below. "Perhaps this is where we should start changing..." she mumbles, though it still echos out over the courtyard due to the magical place she stands. "Rather than my simply talking at you, let me open this forum."
Again, glancing back to her companions, realizing Etrah is having no luck, she whistles for him to return to her side. "I don't pretend to have all the answers. But, why don't you ask what is on your mind and I'll try to answer as best I can."
One elen calls out, "What do we do now?" The question is met with agreement and shouts. The mood of the crowd has improved considerably upon seeing Inam is unhurt, and that the fight is over.
Twitching when arms wrap around her, muscles jumping and wanting to lash out. Loudly gulping and nodding at his words while letting Ibinu have control of her movements.
A very subtle shake of her head says no to talking to anyone. Watching Inam with glassy eyes and a deep frown on her green lips. Fingers tensing, flexing open and closed rapidly. Making the muscles on her arms form a rhythmic dance.
Ibinu, the guards see that Inam is busy addressing the crowd. Sophia comes over, keeping a respectful distance from Kallik, and says, "Ibinu, what should we do with the assassin? He's still alive. There was no chain upon him - he acted of his own volition."
Slightly startled out of his focus on Kallik, Ibinu looks up. Something registers in his eyes, "oh yeah! I had a... plan for that. Okay, strip his armor and weapons, then bind and gag him tightly. I'm going to assume you all have a secure cell or something so take him there and post two guards. I know I want to talk to him and I think Inam will too, so we should be along shortly."
He looks around at the crowd and Inam attempting to address the questions. Good on her, engage them don't command them. Well done.
A memory triggers his suspicion, "Sophia, I would like to see the assassin before you take him away."
He whispers to Kallik, "can you stay out here a bit longer with me? I need to confirm something and we need to stay in sight of Inam in case Locatelli wasn't the only enemy here."
Ibinu, you see a strange thing as you approach the semi-conscious assassin: his ifrit features seem to be...melting away. It appears that an illusion spell of some kind is wearing off, showing a sylphan face. Extensive scars show on his forehead. He is muttering, "Ifrit...I'm an ifrit, kill..."
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
'What do we do now...I...I'm not sure' runs through her head as she considers the question. A shiver runs down her spine in the cold air.
"For one, I'd suggest we start dressing warmer than we have been." She replies, chuckling nervously.
Taking a deep breath, she bows her head and begins to pray aloud. "Volcano, we are your humble servants seeking guidance. We appreciate the undeserved life you grant each and every one of us. We humbly beg your protection and wisdom in these coming times. May the Warrior's will and stalwart morals guide our actions. Let us show your goodness through our works!"
Her eyes snapping open, she realizes she's still standing on the magical rune. "Oh, sorry. I didn't mean to turn this into a sermon."
Glancing towards Etrah, her eyes pleading for him to take over, the phoenix merely smiles and motions for her to continue.
"We must continue our normal activities, else the city will collapse. We still need bakers, blacksmiths, librarians, street sweepers, etc. We all honor the Powerful One in our own ways be keeping this glorious city moving forward."
"However, we must also remember the teachings of the Warrior. We have all made mistakes, no single elen is perfect. For this we must be courteous, kind, and fair to all our brothers and sisters. We must be understanding. BUT WE MUST DO BETTER than we have in recent times."
"We can not condemn each other based on our perceived failures. All and I do mean ALL can be reborn. They need but ask and seek forgiveness. We should do our best to peacefully guide our fellow elen to seek this path, but it must be their choice. You cannot make an undine swim in water. You can not make a sylph fly. They must choose it for themselves."
"My companions and I will work on helping the Temple repent from their ways. We will do our best to serve the righteous and protect this city. We will pull through this. Trodaí a bheith leat!" Her nerves fueling the adrenaline left over from the fight causes her to speak faster and faster. Her voice raising an octave and in volume with each sentence, until finally...She screams out in her native tongue.
Pausing, she takes several deep breaths. Feeling winded as if she'd just run a marathon. She calls out "We the temple serve YOU the elen for HIS NAME!"
With a grand salute to the crowd, she turns and heads towards Ibinu.
"Warrior be with you!"
Ibinu just shakes his head as his suspicions are confirmed. "oh... what have they done to you. No one deserves this."
_________________________________________________________________
He tries to guide Kallik to a nearby temple doorway as the assassin is bound and removed. He turns and listens to Inam's speech. Smiling he thinks, quite a change indeed, quite a change.
The mumbling sylph 'assassin' is taken away by Sophia and Lui. They let Ibinu know what cell they are taking him to.
Nodding and trailing Ibinu like a shadow. Clinching her jaw, muscles tense and shaking, just trying to avoid the urge to lash out at the would be assassin. Once he is tied and taken away she leans into Ibinu's ear and growls, "You knew him?"
Ibinu thinks for a moment before responding, "not... really. He seems to be the one that gave me a warning in a dream and I'm pretty sure we read all about him in the notes... this morning? Oooh my, that seems to be a long time ago." After a brief moment he continues, "I think he is the last of the former blessed that we were looking for. We can try to find out more if we get a chance to talk to him."
Nodding before glancing back at Inam. Mumbling quietly, still near Ibinu's ear, "Are we waiting for her?"
With a smile, "of course, we are all in this together after all."