Eostre scowls at Conner.
"Gross!"
Nicat's humor does not usually run to the dark and cruel variety, but he can't help bursting into laughter at Conner's remark. He does his best to stifle it, then says, "My friends are right, you'd do well to help us - it's looking pretty bad for you, but it'll only be worse if you keep working against us. Better do as my dwarf sister says."
" I could dislocate his shoulders so he will be less trouble, but I suppose... that would be wrong."
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"Even if you don't believe Nicat's offer of mercy, and I don't blame you considering you seem dead-set on dying for this petty sham of vengeance for your s#itty childhood, he's right. You'll gain nothing from giving us s#it. And in case Conner's display wasn't enough to convince you Nualia's dead, we made sure it wasn't all we brought with us."
She takes out Nualia's severed head and places it in front of Tsuto.
"Tell us about Malfeshnekor. Now."
Tsuto doesn't say anything as Eostre presents Nualia's head and drops it at his feet. Conner poking him with her severed demonic hand gets no reaction from him either.
He doesn't seem moved by the party's threats in the slightest--he just fixes Eostre with an even more hateful look, if that's even possible.
Conner grins. "Tsuto, there's a lot of parts on you that you can live without. I want you to think what life in prison will be like without those parts, compared to what it would be like as a whole man. Now, I'm going to start with a little finger. Well, I'll try, this is a very large sword I took off your dead girlfriend." He draws Nualia's sword and turns Tsuto to get at his hands. "How much I keep cutting is all up to you."
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Eostre immediately blanches and gapes at Conner. But slowly, Conner's features seem to shift, taking on a meaner, leaner look as the room gets hotter, flames appearing out of nowhere and for one brief moment, it's not Tsuto sitting there glaring defiantly, but Paulinus screaming and begging for the pain to stop
"TORTURE?! NO! WE'RE NOT HIM! WE'RE NOT LIKE HIM!" she screams.
Tsuto's response to Eostre's scream is a brief smirk before his glare reasserts itself.
Shalelu turns her eyes from Tsuto and moves in front of Eostre. "Eostre. He's not here. He can't hurt you. Look at me." She says, trying to calm the distraught dwarf down.
Conner's words send a shiver down Evelyn's spine. At first she's able to suppress the dreadful feeling that follows, but her heart start throbbing uncontrollably when Eostre starts yelling about torture. An otherworldly, high-pitched voice then whispers to her.
"កុមារ ..."
Evelyn turns her head, looking for the source of the voice before realizing it was inside her head. Her face turns pale and she stands unmovingly.
No... No, they're not supposed to come back...
Her hand moves to the cold iron dagger hanging from her hip and her fingers wrap around its handle.
They let me go... They're not supposed to come back...
The moment Tsuto smirks Evelyn imagines his lips moving, forming words that he shouldn't be able to speak in that tongue: "តើអ្នកបានបាត់បង់, កុមារ? គ្រាន់តែមកជាមួយខ្ញុំ... ខ្ញុំនឹងនាំអ្នកផ្ទះ..."
Evelyn shakes her head and replies out loud, looking straight at Tsuto: "អ្នកនិយាយកុហកបន្ទាប់មក... អ្នកកុហកខ្ញុំ..."
Her grip on her dagger's handle intensifies, Evelyn's knuckles turning white. Evelyn grits her teeth and gives Tsuto a hateful stare, her pale face regaining its color as she slowly gains the resolve to stand up again the thing that's trying to lead her away from her parents' home. She no longer sees her allies. Only Tsuto, who's transformed into a wood-like creature with a pointed nose and large ears.
Just when Evelyn's about to draw her dagger everything returns to normal. Evelyn blinks again and looks around. She sees her allies, and Tsuto. The strange sensation from before is gone, just like the strange creature that sat where Tsuto did and the voice inside her head. Evelyn relaxes again, shaking her head and smiling at anyone giving her an awkward look. "Nothing... I was just, like, thinking out loud, you know..."
Nicat watches Eostre and Evelyn in alarm, almost stepping between the healer and their prisoner before Evelyn calms herself down. "Have you two gone nuts?" he asks excitedly. He glances over his shoulder at Conner, concerned that the burly warrior will actually start cutting pieces off of Tsuto.
"If he's not gonna help us, Conner, just give him a knock on the head. No need to start taking off toes!" As he speaks, his own bare toes curl under protectively.
"For the love of..." Conner smacks Tsuto on the head with his pommel. "Tip for the future, when you're trying to scare someone with bodily harm, it helps if someone else doesn't immediately say you wouldn't actually do it!"
"He didn't break when Eostre shoved his lover's severed head in his face. I doubt cutting off body parts would've made any progress, Conner." Shalelu says as she bundles Tsuto and Lyrie together.
"And, another tip for the future--don't try scaring someone with bodily harm when someone who's already been traumatized by it is nearby." She gives Conner a scowl as she starts dragging one of the unconscious felons out the doors. Orik moves to assist her with the moving.
"We'll meet up with you once you've dealt with this 'Malfeshnekor'. Best of luck."
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Eostre's breathing slows as Shalelu helps her calm down, at least for a moment. Then, as Shalelu drags the prisoners off, she walks up to Conner and attempts to punch him in the face.
"HE MADE ME WATCH, A@*%@@!! HE MADE ME !" she screams, tears dripping down her face.
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Ekan looks ashamed, and then moves quickly to try to calm Eostre down, a gentle hand on her shoulder... restraining her might make it worse, "Eostre... you're safe. Conner didn't do anything. Thoughts are not words, words are not actions. One may push towards the other, but you should not punish Conner or yourself. Please." He is alarmed at the wounds that have broken open here.
"Okay, everyone, can we please calm down?!" Nicat asks, his voice tinged with concern. "Ekan's right, sis! You're safe here with us, there's nothing to worry about. We're going to fight this demon-dog and a tentacle monster, that's all..." His words peter out, as he's unsure if he's actually helping the situation - but the fact that he's even thinking about that show the gravity of his feelings at the moment.
"What the Hells is all this!?"
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Eostre is trying and failing miserably to look stoic as she keeps sobbing.
"Do you KNOW how loud a man can scream when his fingers are broken one by one, Conner?! I had to stand and listen and couldn't move while Paulinus was being tortured thanks to the holding spell. And he was smiling! Tammerhawk was bloody SMILING as he did it. He knew Paulinus had told him everything, but he wanted to make the old man suffer! And then HE F#*&ING BURNED HIM ALIVE! And he wanted me to see it because he wanted me to know I was next if I didn't get out of Riddleport! And then you go talking about cutting off Tsuto's parts and you're smiling just like he did! Why?! I already showed him the damn head and he wasn't saying anything! Why the Hell did you think stopping to his level and torturing him would help?!"
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"BECAUSE I'M TRYING TO KEEP ALL OF US ALIVE! If he had responded to the head I wouldn't have bothered, but it clearly wasn't going to cut it, so someone had to do something besides give up! And if I have to cut off the fingers of someone who murdered their own father in order to save your life, then it's not even a hard choice! I would KILL him to keep you safe, to keep all of you safe! Because that's my job! The two of us stood alone against actual demons, and this is all the trust I get? A mean look and a sharp edge is all it takes for you to turn on someone?"
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"I'm NOT turning on you! No one, not even Tsuto, deserves that! That's what makes us better than him! Better than Nualia!"
"I think, if we could stop shouting, staying calm might be easier..." Ekan says in a quiet tone.
"I am NOT shouting! I'm waiting for an apology!" Eostre snaps.
"I don't have anything to apologize for."
Eostre lets out a frustrated "RrrrrrrrRRRRR!" before turning and storming off towards the passage they blocked the day before.
"Okay, right," Nicat says, "let's all keep at least a little bit calm, and take care of the dog-monster. I think Eostre is leading the way. I think."
With heavy hearts and renewed resolve, the party walks back through the desolate, abandoned fortress of Thistletop. A cold wind blows in from the sea, bringing with it the scent of salty brine. The smell of blood and death greets the party as they clear the blockage of the second level and walk back downstairs--it's a stark reminder of the carnage they wrought in their quest to prevent even more innocent deaths.
Nualia's headless, one-armed corpse is lying where it fell. Strangely, the corpse still feels slightly warm to the touch.
The doorway to the south opens easily, revealing an L-shaped hallway beyond. The southern wing of this L-shaped hallway ends at a pair of stone doors carved with the depictions of two skeletons reaching out to clutch a skull between them, while to the east the hallway narrows down to frame a circular carving of what seems to be an immense stack of tens of thousands of gold coins that rises from floor to ceiling. The edges of these coins are carved with tiny, spiky runes.
"Before we leave remind me to burn that body." When they reach the end of the passage Conner checks their rear, then moves aside to let the educated folks through.
Nicat slips past Conner and studies the area with interest, his attention caught by the carving of coins. He moves in very close to the pillar of gold coins and says, "Hey, there are slots on either side of this pillar! They look like the slot in a beggar's box, just the right size to fit coins through! "
"Good eye, Nicat," Eostre says wearily. "Considering the statues of the Runelord of Greed we tore down back there, it'd make sense for the builders here to use coins as keys."
"But will just any coin fit?"
Eostre rubs her chin.
"Given the theme of greed here, I assume gold is what's required here. Anybody got an extra gold sail or two they wouldn't miss?"
"how many do you need?" Ekan has never been big on material wealth and pulls out ten gold pieces.
"Nicat, how many slots are there?"
"Just the two slots, one on either side of the pillar," Nicat replies, eagerly picking a couple of gold pieces out of Ekan's hand and slipping them into the slots.
The pillar of coins starts shaking as Nicat inserts the two gold pieces into the slots. It then begins to slide into the floor, making an absolutely cacophonic *GRINDING* noise.
The hallway beyond looks like it's only been disturbed in the past few days. Three sets of elaborately carved stone double doors are on the northern, eastern and southern walls, and upon each of the doors are elaborate murals of a seven-pointed star. The southern doors' murals are glowing a sickly violet colour.
A thick layer of dust coats the floor, revealing bootprints leading to the southern doorway. They stop in front of the doors before turning around and heading back the way they came.
Nicat's eyes light up as the pillar makes its loud descent into the floor, his mouth forming a perfect circle as his jaw drops in amazement. "Wow, that was great!" he cries out, "Did you guys see that?"
Noticing the bootprints, and the rather alarming door they lead to, he looks over his shoulder and says to Eostre, "Sis, if you've got your nerves settled down, I think you're gonna want to check out the star thing on that door, one of those spyhegrons, by the look of it."
"I think they're called sipehegrons, Nicat," Evelyn 'corrects' him. "Pretty sure that's what Eostre called them."
"That's what I said, Evey," Nicat says, quite convinced he's correct.
"Hold up, we know someone went to that door, but clearly no one has opened the others. There could be something helpful in there."
Eostre slaps her face in frustration.
"Sihedron! Si-he-dron! S! I! H! E! D! R! O! N! Honestly! How hard is it to listen when I pronounce something?!"
She pushes past the others towards the door Conner has indicated
"Get out of my way!" she barks.
As Eostre's tirade dies down, Nicat glances at Evelyn, then rolls his eyes before saying "Isn't that what I said?"
The glowing double doors are sealed tightly shut. There's a hole in the shape of a seven-pointed star in one of the doors, with another, smaller hole in the middle of it.
It appears the doors need some sort of key to open.
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I think I'm the boring one in this group, He thinks with a quiet mix of amusement and alarm.
As Eostre's tirade dies down, Nicat glances at Evelyn, then rolls his eyes before saying "Isn't that what I said?"
"NO! NO IT WAS NOT!" Eostre calls behind her as she looks at the doors.
"Evelyn! Get over here and try inserting that SIHEDRON amulet you're wearing into one of these slots. It might be a key."
Evelyn shrugs at Nicat when Eostre isn't looking and makes a face that says 'I-don't-know.' The moment Eostre calls behind her Evelyn's face immediately stiffens up in shock, as does her whole posture. She relaxes again when she realizes Eostre wasn't barking at her.
More like a 'sillydron' with such a name...
The moment Eostre actually does start barking orders at her Evelyn freaks out. "Uh, yes! I'll try the silly, uhhh, the si-he-dron!"
Evelyn moves over to the door and tries to fit the amulet in the slot that corresponds with the amulet's size.
The sihedron amulet doesn't quite fit in the slot. It appears a different sort of sihedron-shaped object is necessary to open these doors.
"Do we have anything else shaped like this, uh, si-he-dron?"
"Wait a minute," Nicat asks, his face a mask of puzzlement and mild indignation at Evelyn's question, "isn't a skyhedral a shape? So can we even ask if we have something else shaped like one? That's like asking if we have a different-shaped square...I think."
He scratches his head for a long moment, pauses, then scratches it some more, then mutters to himself, "Squares would be easier."
"Good pronunciation, Evelyn. Now if only Nicat would follow your example."
Eostre rubs her chin, finally having something to distract her thoughts from the recent events.
"We may have to keep looking. In the meantime, I'll check for any magical auras."
Eostre casts her magic detection spell and observes the doors.
A cursory glance at the other doors reveals a strange aura of magic beyond the double doors on the north wall... it's quite strong, and from the shimmering of the air before the doors, you're fairly certain it's an aura of illusion magic.
Eostre nods to no-one in particular.
"This door's got potent magic on it to keep something powerful inside. I'd bet platinum that Malfeshnekor's behind this door. At least we know that it wasn't tied to Nualia's life. That will make exploration of this level easier, he can't really ambush us. There's some sort of illusion spell in the room with the double-doors. Since this door's a dead-end for now, I suppose that's our next destination. Be ready in case the magic messes with your heads."
Eostre takes point and approaches the double-doors.