Rex swings at the woman who attacked him, landing a solid hit.
The tiefling woman moves nimbly as she sinks both of her blades into Rex.
The male at the front lays on the ground, snoring.
The tiefling at the back of the library drops his torch onto the stack of books, steps up to the librarian, and shoots forth a blast of fire from his hands. The bookcase in front of him catches fire as it's washed in flame. The librarian drops the stack of books he was carrying and begins frantically trying to extinguish the flames.
Rd 2
Tina moves three squares up and three squares west to help Kel and pokes the tiefling to the north
"Not the books!"
Propelled by an apparent sense of urgency, Max moves straight through the doorway into the front line and unleashes a spray of colors.
2 HD or less: The creature is unconscious, blinded, and stunned for 2d4 rounds, then blinded and stunned for 1d4 rounds, and then stunned for 1 round. (Only living creatures are knocked unconscious.)
3 or 4 HD: The creature is blinded and stunned for 1d4 rounds, then stunned for 1 round.
5 or more HD: The creature is stunned for 1 round.
Tina moves up and stabs the tiefling spellcaster.
Max charges in, getting slashed by the tiefling woman as he moves.
When in position, Max unleashes a dazzling display of color at the tiefling spellcaster, who collapses as he's knocked unconcious. The librarian, being caught in the crossfire, begins to sway as he tries to blink his eyes clear.
Lann brings his club down on the head of the sleeping tiefling, crushing his skull and killing him instantly.
Deia puts the Tiefling woman to sleep.
As their assailants drop into unconsciousness or death, the bound librarians begin to yell out for help.
"Put the flames out and untie us! Hurry!"
Anevia moves over to the sleeping woman, pulls out her shortsword, and asks, "Do I kill her, or what?"
Uh, maybe they know something we should know about why they were trying to burn all these books, so save one of them?
Tina starts trying to put out the flames.
No idea
Potion of Cure Moderate Wounds
No idea
Potion of Cure Moderate Wounds
|
After the tieflings and crusaders are taken out by the display of magic, Deia rushes forward and tries to get the librarians out of danger. If there is time she will cut their bonds, otherwise she drags them away from the fire. "Are you hurt?" she asks each in turn.
After the people are safe, she will continue to try to save the books in the library and put out the fire.
One by one each of the bound librarians answers in the negative. They aren't hurt, they're just in a bit of shock. But once they're unbound they help with extinguishing the flames. As they do so, one of the librarians, the woman who was looking rather defiant earlier, tells you what happened.
"We locked the doors yesterday after that thing came in with his minions and obliterated our library." With the next sentence her voice drops, "The, uhm, the Riftwardens tried to hold them off, but it was useless... They were... We saw... A massacre."
Returning to a normal volume she continues,"For some reason, they left us alive, but before they left they did their best to destroy anything of real import. I think they took a few of our more prized and valuable items with them before they left, but it would be impossible to say what they were without being able to catalog everything again."
"We locked the doors when they left, vowing not to open them again out of fear that something worse would come along. We kept them shut as people came and cried to us for help. I think it wore on us all, turning people away that needed shelter while we sat in relative safety. And so when that man came to the door earlier this morning, crying and pleading, we held a vote. I said not to let him in, but I was overruled. I know now isn't really the time for an 'I told you so,' but if you hadn't shown up when you did, we'd all be rather crispy right now, I think."
Max does everything in his power to put out the flames and save the remaining books. It seems to be quite obsessive. "Kill the woman," he announces. "These creatures are despicable."
; - CLW
; - CMW
; - Oil of Protection from Evil
; - CMW
; - Shocking Grasp, Shield, Summon Monster I
; - +1 Heavy Mace
;
"I can't believe all the Riftwardens have been slain, says Max quietly.
Rex coughs a bit after helping douse the flames.
"Well looks like we arrived just in time."
|
|
Seeing as everybody no longer appears to be in immediate physical danger, Deia focuses in on what the defiant woman said. "What is this thing you are referring to? Can you describe it any more? Any extra information you can give us may be helpful."
Also, when there is time, she asks Kel about his wounds, "You took quite a blow just now. Do you need some healing attention?"
"I'd appreciate that." Kel said to Deia, moving gingerly to check if any of his bones were broken.
Looking at the unconscious cultists his vision swam for a moment. He could feel something. He tried to focus on it, and suddenly he could see… something. Like a stain that crawled within them. It wasn't exactly sight. That was just the closest thing he could think of to make sense of it in his head. He knew that if he closed his eyes he could still feel the foulness of… whatever it was.
What the hell?
Exactly. Got it in one.
That's… evil? That's the way you see it? Feel it?
It is as vile and wreched to us as those infected with hideous plague is to you mortals, but even worse. Plague victims are almost never at fault for their plight. This affliction is always self-induced.
Not always. It wasn't for you.
No! I let it in! Its part of me now because I got caught, and then could not resist. Its my own fault! In the end, it made me want it. That is how evil is. It isn't an infection. In the end it simply becomes what you are.
You were forced. It isn't what you are. You aren't responsible. It may be something you carry with you now, but it doesn't have to define you. That much is pretty obvious. If you were simply evil now, your power wouldn't be bleeding through into me.
I… I don't…
Kel shook his head, snapping out of whatever reverie he'd fallen into while he stared at the unconscious tieflings.
"They need to die." Kel said flatly.
They were so like him, or at least like what he could have been. He knew how easy it was to justify terrible things when you were born into a world that disposed you from your first breath.
He felt sorry for them, but he also knew that at this point there was no saving them from their choices. He didn't agree with the angel in his head. Sometimes evil just was, regardless of choices. That was the kind of evil their unconscious foes had been born with.
it was their choices that had nurtured it though. It was for those choices that they were now judged.
He drew Radience and moved toward them with grim purpose, but stopped. He couldn't kill them while they were asleep. Something about that just seemed wrong.
He bound their hands and gagged them.
|
|
Deia nods to Kel and clears a small space between them and the rest of the group. She chants in a monotone, "Stars of the sky, mend the wounds of Kel!"
"I can do more if need be, but this should take care of the deepest of the wounds first, " she says to Kel.
After that, Deia takes some time to examine the gray stone that has confused everybody else. She declares, "I can make no sense of this either, other than it is obviously magical."
"That's much better, thank you." he says, suddenly wincing a lot less as he rolled his arm and checked his ribs.
Once the fire is put out and Kel has bound their foes, Max checks in on the scholars. "Do you think this library is safe? Does the door still work? It seems like it might be good to find another place to go. We could keep a few of the most important books with us. Though if what you say is true, perhaps all the most important books are gone..." Max looks for some sort of gap in the subject matter of the books, to indicate what type of books they wanted destroyed.
As the others put out the flames, Kel binds the two prisoners. Shortly after they begin to come around, with the woman waking from her magically induced slumber first. She realizes that she's still alive, and she starts to laugh heartily through her gag.
After we deal with these two we can probably see about getting the wounded people here.
When the woman starts laughing, Kel looks at her flatly. "Something funny?"
The librarian who was speaking earlier answers Max and Deia.
"The library is safe, so long as we keep the door shut and barred. This hall survived what those demons did to the rest of the building, so it should be able to survive more so long as the others have learned their lesson about opening the door to strangers. It doesn't really matter about the books here, though. This is the public hall. All of these books are rather simple and far from special. Mostly they're general histories and simple bestiaries that cover the more common enemies of the Worldwound. All of the important books were kept in the vaults that were destroyed by the demons when they attacked."
"And the thing would have you believe it's a man, but it isn't. Maybe it was once, but now it's... something else."
She walks away, kneels down, and picks up a small, leathery strip off of the floor. When she returns she hands it to Deia. "He looked as though he was made out of these. Lots of them. And they were alive, writhing beneath his clothes, moving like a mouth when he spoke... I saw him force an arm made of the things down a warden's throat, leaving him to suffocate on them... The woman shudders as she recalls the creature's appearance.
The bound tiefling woman continues to laugh as Kel addresses her. When the other tiefling wakes up he starts laughing as well.
Kel sighed. Better get this over with.
"The only reason you two are alive now is because I don't feel right killing someone who isn't looking me in the eyes. You two make me think I should learn to be less squeamish."
"You're collaborators with demons, killers, and you tried to destroy a priceless collection of knowledge. I'm not actually a justicar, but when one shows up, I'll tell them what happened here and see if they decide to put me on trial for acting without authority. Probably won't matter much to you though. You'll both still be dead."
"Any last words?"
They were still gagged, so they didn't get to say much.
"No? Good."
Kel pushed Radience through the Tiefling woman's heart.
"How about you? You feel like saying anything?"
That was a bit cold, don't you think?
What, you want me to draw it out? Try to find some reason in all this? They helped destroy the whole damn city. This isn't a trial. There's no justice anywhere for something this big and awful. The only thing left to do now is clean up the mess. They're unrepentant demon worshiping cultists and they need to die.
Oh, I'm not disagreeing with you. I'm just surprised. You spend so much time talking about what's right and what isn't, and trying to be nice even when its a waste of time. I figured you'd want to try to build some kind of jail and pass them off to someone else to execute. I didn't think you'd do it. I'm kind of proud of you.
... and suddenly, I'm second guessing myself.
Is this where they say we have no chance, bide our time?
Tina watches Kel end the woman's life.
Guess snot.
The tiefling man stops laughing as his companion is run through, and he nods when Kel asks if he wants to speak.
Kel removes the gag. "Better make it good, Chuckles."
The tiefling smiles and says, "And here I didn't think you had it in you! Running your sword through a bound, gagged, and defenseless prisoner! How barbaric! Almost like you're one of us! Go on, end me too!" He begins laughing again, each loud and hearty cackle filling the hall with the sound of his voice.
I guess this is where he laughs in triumph when he dies and claims that you are already in the grip of his lord, blah, blah, blah. Then he expects you to defend your actions while he shakes his head and goes 'Excuses! Why do they always try to justify murder?
Kel just gives him a drawn look and shrugs. "I am one of you. I'm just on the other side."
Then Radiance found his heart.
The tiefling's laughter continues as Kel plunges the sword into him, only ending after his heart had pumped its last and his body lay still on the floor. The librarians look on in shock, stunned by what they've just witnessed. Suddenly, their collective gaze darts to the doorway as a shadow is cast through the room.
Aravashnial stumbles through the door, obviously still sick at learning of the destruction of the library. As he enters he says, "I should have known you'd survive this, Fenna. You always were the stubborn one. And too quick to judge the actions of others, too."
Fenna, the stern and stoic librarian who has done all of the talking so far, is quick to retort. "And I should have known that you'd have run rather than fight. Your mouth was always running faster than your body could keep up."
Aravashnial makes his way into the library slowly, being careful to feel his way forward with each step.
"You know me all too well... I'm glad you're safe. Tell me, were all of my brethren killed or did any manage to escape? And do you have any world of Quednys? We were near each other when the fighting broke out, but were separated quickly after."
Fenna shakes her head.
"We haven't heard anything. We knew he was at the plaza, but he never returned."
As Aravashnial draws nearer, she notices the bandages that cover his face.
"Your face! What happened?!"