Before the group sleeps Allie releases the remaining energy she holds, soothing the injuries of the living and giving her sister the sensation of a warm bath.
That night Allie is as good as her word, spooning in close to her sister and Ellie to ward off the chill and give the 'old man' as much space as she can.
"We can go back to the graveyard now right?" Allie says after petting Cuddles thoroughly after his night on the forest floor. "I think we've been everywhere. If we're hunting down the ghoul lady should we take some meat with us?"
"If it comes to that, I don't think she'll be alone so we'll be able to make our own 'meat'," Gabbi answers with toothy grin.
You make your way back through the ruins of Roslar's Coffer. As you are crossing the southern part of town, though, Elka and Gabriela spot a patrol up ahead! Two cultists of the Whispering Way follow behind a scythe-wielding ghoul. They don't seem to be expecting trouble, and they haven't noticed you yet...
"Out of the road!" Gabbi hisses as soon as she notices the other group. "They don't see us yet. We've got the drop on them." She smiles as she readies her crossbow. She speaks quiet words over the weapon as she moves behind some wooden debris.
Ulrich is caught off guard and quickly dives behind a tree. He takes a good look over the ghoul and tries to figure out what it could be capable of.
Gabbi rolls her eyes as the doctor disturbs some of the branches of the tree he's hiding behind and the opposing group looks up to see the movement.
She steps out into their sight, her spiral pendant visible.
"You are an abomination against the Lady of Graves and I pronounce you accursed," she calls out. She then raises her weapon and fires at the ghoul.
As soon as Gabby calls out, the ghoul snarls and brandishes her scythe!
Gabby's bolt pierces the ghoul's armor, eliciting a howl of rage! "I'll send you to meet your Lady as I feast on your flesh!" she shouts.
"You can try," Gabriella responds coldly as she reloads her crossbow.
Ellie swiftly moves to interpose herself between the dhampir and the ghoul, brandishing her flail as she utters one of the more badly-thought out battle cries in history: "Nobody is feasting on anybody! Well, you're not feasting on anybody. I mean, I can't say what they might or might not do. And then there's the tiger. I've already seen him feast on something. Although that wasn't a someone. So my original point still stands. Probably."
Seeing Ulrich make a complete hash of stealth Allie slaps a hand onto Cuddles and channels magic into him, before she snaps her fingers and sends the blood in her allies veins singing.
Cuddles charges forwards with Ellie - he seems to know who to work with.
Elká lays low and studies her target - a ghastly apparition brandishing a wicked scythe.
"Pallid Princess, protect me," the ghoul declares, a judgment in counterpoint to Gabby's invocation. She drinks a potion from her belt, causing her form to grow blurry and indistinct.
The knife-wielding cultists move in, and as they get close, Ellie and Cuddles charge at them! The fighter scores a telling blow on the first man, but the other dodges the tiger's swipe!
Like a trained hunter Elká waits for her opportunity. When the moment arrives, she uses that split second to get up and throw a javelin at the unsuspecting cultist. Before it can hit, she strides forward, ready to join the melee.
Elka's javelin impales the man Elly clobbered, sending him sprawling across the ground!
"Say hello to Pharasma for me!"
Cuddles continues to savage the cultist right in front of him.
Allie meanwhile closes the gap slightly, preparing to countercharge the ghoul if it attacks, as she bolsters herself with magical power.
Ulrich begins casting Enlarge Person, targeting Ellie.
"Wha-hey!" Ellie blinks as the javelin thuds into the opponent she was fighting. She strides towards the next target, only to almost trip over her boots as she becomes too big for them - or they for her, it's not clear.
"Gah! Bye-bye, toes!" She suddenly feels a tremendous force expanding outwards as she bursts upwards - and upwards.
Understandably, she's somewhat discombobulated by the whole thing.
Gabby shoots at the ghoul again, but the strength of the undead creature's faith causes the bolt to veer off-target! The surviving cultist dodges Ellie's attack, but Cuddles lands a good claw swipe.
The cultists takes a step back and drinks a potion, disappearing from sight! Meanwhile, the ghoul steps closer and brandishes her holy symbol--a death's-head moth--at Allie. "Beg for forgiveness, and I might spare you Urgathoa's wrath!" she snarls.
Cuddles charges as he sees something threatening his pack mate. He ignores the unseen threat that may remain nearby.
"For what you are about to receive may Pharasma make you truly grateful!" Allie replies, throwing off the spell easily as she charges forward to join her companion and grapple with the creature.
"The Pallid Princess holds no fear for us, vile abomination. We serve the Mother of Souls and sooner or later, you'll face her judgement," Gabbi pronounces before pulling the trigger on her weapon.
"My vote is for sooner," she mutters to herself as she reloads her weapon.
Ellie's larger size makes her more ungainly, but it hugely increases her reach. Easily getting into a useful tactical position, she strikes from a distance with her flail - targeting the undead horror's unholy symbol. After all, if she's brandishing it like that it likely has some use to her. Smashing it seems like a good move.
In the chaos of all that's happening, Elká skulks forth and waits for the ghoul to rush on in.
While Cuddles' attack comes up short, Allie is able to grab a hold of the ghoul. Gabby's crossbow bolt sinks deep into the undead creature's chest, and Ellie smashes her iron unholy symbol to pieces!
The invisible cultist suddenly appears as he leaps at Allie, driving his dagger deep into her back. The ghoul tears at the dhampir's throat, and as the oracle falls, the monster whirls on Elly, raking her with a jagged claw!
Ellie shrugs off the paralysis and smashes at the ghoul with her flail, stepping as needed to get a flank with the tiger.
Elly's flail smashes the ghoul's skull in! The creature collapses, unmoving.
"I want him alive!" Gabriella snarls through clinched teeth as she drops her crossbow and moves to kneel at her sister's side. She presses her hand against the bleeding wound and closes her eyes.
As the woman's eyes start open from the pain, Gabbi pulls her into her arms. "I think you're just trying to get my attention," she whispers tenderly.
Elká supports Ellie with some suppressing fire.
"I can think of more fun ways to get your attention." Allie replies, wincing against the pain.
Suddenly realising that the combat is nor over A lie looks back at the remaining cultist and clenched her fist.
The cultist shakes oddly as he magic takes effect.
The man cries out as his bones rattle beneath his skin. His eyes roll up into his head and he falls to the ground, dying!
"Glad that's over." Ellie picks up the scythe and swishes it through the air a few times, experimentally. "Nice enough I suppose, but not really my weapon of choice."
She looks at the others, particularly Allie who was badly hurt. "Are we ok to continue on to the graveyard, or do you want to turn back and rest up?"
Gabriella rolls her eyes in frustration. "Alive, dammit! I said I wanted him alive!" She glares at her sister. "Love, sometimes I think you look for opportunities to aggravate me."
She takes a moment to cast another spell on her twin.
Once that's completed the inquisitor moves through the fallen enemies looking for any signs of life. Her expression indicates that she expects it to be a lost cause.
"Oh? Oh, yes!" Gabriella exclaims as she feels a feint pulse on the last cultist. She flips the man over and quickly binds his hands and feet before giving a small prayer to Pharasma and laying a healing hand on him.
Proceeding to press her knee into the man's back, Gabbi leans close and whispers in his ear. "Hello, Meat." She glances up at Allie, her eyes moving over to Cuddles and back.
As the tiger approaches close enough to drip saliva on the face-down man's head, Gabriella speaks. "If you're wondering about that term of endearment, it's because if you don't tell me everything you know about what happened here and why the whispering way is involve then I'm going to feed you to him. One. Piece. At. A. Time." She grabs his hair and pulls his head back. "A word of warning. I can smell a lie - each one will cost you a toe. And since I just know that you'll want to test that, I'll even let you pick the first one I take."
She slams his nose back to the ground.
"Now start talking!"
"He is!" Allie protests through gritted teeth as her sister punishes her with 'healing'. She goes over to Cuddles and scratches his head behind the ears, before giving him a gentle shove towards the cultist. The tiger does as asked and stalks forwards to glower at the cultist as Gabbi goes to work on him.
Allie meanwhile looks around the rest of the group. "Everyone ok?" She asks, "I've got juice to work with."
Ellie nods. "I'm ok. No, wait, that ghoul got me." She winces as the adrenaline wears off and her body protests the injuries she's suffered.
Allie bites her thumb and smears the blood across Ellie's injuries and then across her lips, before leaning in to retrieve it. "I think the healing effect is more pronounced this way." She whispers with a smile.
"Shelyn help me", Elká mutters as she averts her eyes. The smashed in remains of the ghoul stare back at her, sharing her dismay. "Yeah, I know how you feel, but I rather it be you than me."
Having been healed back to consciousness, the cultist cries out as Gabby smashes him to the ground and Cuddles looms large over him. "Okay, okay! I'll talk!" he cries. "We've come to this town to study the aftereffects of the blast that devastated the area. I don't know the details about how the blast happened. We were ordered here by our cell's leadr, a vampire named Valthazar Quietus. Valthazar has a magical gem he used to create the poisonous fog around the town to keep out any nosy travelers. The gem also allows a select few chosen by Valthazar to pass unharmed through the miasma." He shows off the skull-shaped scarring on his palm. It's the same mark you saw on the cultists that attacked you in the jewlery shop. "The undead don't need the same markings. They can pass through the fog freely.
"We're operating out of an old temple to Sarenrae a few miles outside of town. But there's no way for you to get to it without going through the fog, and that's a death sentence without being marked!"
Gabriella almost shows surprise when the cultist mentions the vampire. With the exception of her nostrils flaring just a bit, she retains her composure, though. "There's lots of ways around telling a lie and I know all of them," she says with a smirk. "So I've got another question for you and you will answer it with a 'yes' or 'no'." She turns to give a small grin in her sister's direction.
"Is there anything you're holding back and not telling us? Anything that we would consider important?" she asks, looking back at the prisoner.
Gabriella unties the cultists hands and flips him onto his back. She stretches out the hand that contains the brand and ties the small piece of rope around the arm below the wrist. "You're going to thank me for this in a moment," she tells him snidely. Once it's pulled painfully tight, she gestures towards Elká and the magical kukri she carries. "If you would oblige? He doesn't need that hand anymore."
Once her sister is done playing 'doctor' Alessandra wells up with light and releases a wave of silvery energy that closes wounds in its wake. The man's bleeding stump seals itself although it seems to do little for the pain.
Allie moves away from the cultist, leaving Cuddles there to keep guard on him. "I don't think we should try for the monastry now. There's the genius locus and we've got a lot of injuries. It'll take most of my magic to fix it up and by the sounds of it we need all our strength for this."
"Yes. Your existence as you know it nears its end. Soon, Tar-Baphon will be free, and all will join the ranks of his undying army!" the cultist rants. He speaks the truth, or at least what he perceives the truth to be. He rails and raves in spite of his forthcoming dismemberment.
"Tar-Baphon is locked up in Gallowspire and won't be released until this world is done," Gabriella counters. Although her confidence sounds a little forced.
Once the cultist is separated from his means of moving unharmed through the mist, she steps aside with her twin.
"It can't be him. I mean, he wouldn't stay around in this area for decades ... would he? Unless there's a tie of history to a location, vampires move around to avoid being hunted down." She shakes her head, as she seems to convince herself. "No, I don't think it's him."
"So then let's talk to the village spirit and let it know the fragments have been returned and see what it has to say," she says louder. "Once we do that, we can decide if we want to head down into the catacombs or rest. I have a feeling that time is working against us."
Elká grumbles - per usual - and wracks her brain on how to deal with the fanged menace that's standing between them and getting out of here alive. "Hrm. Aren't vampires like, able to come back from death? An orc shaman I know wouldn't shut up about this fanged menace that, no matter how many times they hunted him down, would keep on coming back to feed on members of his tribe. How are we supposed to kill a vampire, let alone a vampire that knows magic? We got plenty of potions of invisibility, so worst case scenario, we sneak in unseen and wreck shop before downing another potion to get out. Make 'im angry, lure him out."
"Stake through the heart, exposure to sunlight or submerging in running water." Alessandra replies promptly. "All of those will kill a vampire for good. The tricky bit is finding them if they go into mist-form. If you can find their coffin then you can burn it with them inside and that works too."
Alessandra clearly knows a lot about vampires... one would almost think that she's been paying a lot of attention to them or something like it.
Gabbi tries to hide the grin that threatens to appear on her face. "Vampires were the only subject that Allie got better grades than I did." She gives her twin a sideways looks. "Although, I still have my suspicions that you were working for 'extra credit' with Sister Aurora." She rolls her eyes. "Vow of Chastity, my ass."
"Just because you managed to annoy every sister, doesn't mean that I did." Allie replies, grinning openly. "I'm the charming one remember. Lots of the sisters just liked me. Those that could tell us apart at least. Don't you remember that priest, Brother Clarence, who came onto you really strong one day? I might have introduced myself as Gabriella and been a little friendly..." Her smile turns predatory. "He was being pretty nasty to a few of the other girls, he deserved everything you gave him."
She turns back to the rest. "Besides, I had good motivation to learn about vampires. When we find him I absolutely want to know how to end him, as slowly and painfully as possible."
Gabbi's eyes widen just a bit. "That's why he ..." She trails off as the events unfold in her memory. She cringes at a part of it. "I'm sure his testicles eventually descended again." She shrugs. "And if not, he's not supposed to be using them anyways."