The desire to gut the wizard right there and then is dwarfed by the view. Cataclysmic destruction on a scale beyond the changeling's ability to comprehend leaves her feeling powerless. She sighs and visibly deflates. "We failed ... we failed, but maybe we can at least save what's left."
She aches to say more words. To speak sentences of hope, to give the others something to cling to in the face of defeat. "Let's go answer the call for help before this view breaks my heart and soul."
Gabbi closes her eyes, unable to look upon the evidence of their failure any further, and steps closer to her sister. She presses against Allie's shoulder trying to find assurance in the small amount of contact.
"What?" she asks, opening her eyes at Elká's words. She looks where the woman indicates and sees signs of life. Her jaw clinches. "Yes, let us help where we can."
"Dondun. What are you going to do?"
The wizard blinks and looks at Ulrich. ”I... I don’t know. Stay with you all, for now, if you’ll let me.”
Gabbi narrows her eyes at the wizard. She doesn't say anything, but it's clear to anyone looking at her what her feelings on the matter are.
Gabbi closes her eyes, unable to look upon the evidence of their failure any further, and steps closer to her sister. She presses against Allie's shoulder trying to find assurance in the small amount of contact.
"What?" she asks, opening her eyes at Elká's words. She looks where the woman indicates and sees signs of life. Her jaw clinches. "Yes, let us help where we can."
Allie looks over the destruction without the pain that it seems to cause her companions. The dhampir looks... impressed almost, by the sheer scale and power of the weapon, although her arm does snake around her sister's shoulder and hold her briefly. Rascal sidles up to Gabbi's other side, enveloping the Inquisitor briefly in a sandwich of warmth and comfort.
"No point waiting." She agrees and sets off.
You pick your way through the ruins of the city as you head towards the temple. As you walk, you hear a screech from above as an immense, bat-like creature soars through the dark clouds above. It is too far away to make out details, but a wave of supernatural fear washes over you briefly before it disappears behind a cloud.
Even partially collapsed, the Cathedral of Sancta Iomedaea stands defiant against the devastation. Its narthex and nave have collapsed entirely, leaving behind only the intersections of stout stone walls marking their former outlines. The building is made of solid marble ornamented with images of saints, archons, and angels, although deep cracks in the marble hint that the cathedral’s structural integrity has been compromised. White candles and sconces with everburning torches illuminate the surviving portions of the cathedral.
Destroyed marble walls and splintered lumber fill the former nave of the cathedral. Amid this mess lie four shattered pillars; without their support, the entire roof has collapsed. To the north, large pieces of debris reinforce a surviving wall buttressed with scavenged lumber and a piece of an iron fence.
A horde of undead men and women with tight leathery skin, sunken eyes, and emaciated frames hurls itself against the makeshift barrier. They groan and howl, desperate to get inside the temple. They don't seem to have noticed you yet...
It is too far away to make out details, but a wave of supernatural fear washes over you briefly before it disappears behind a cloud.
Gabbi readies her bow, but hunches down to avoid being seen. "Can we do anything against so many? Perhaps there's another way in?"
The wizard blinks and looks at Ulrich. ”I... I don’t know. Stay with you all, for now, if you’ll let me.”
Ulrich closes his eyes and nods. "Come with us. You will have to refrain from raising the dead, however. That is simply non-negotiable."
-----------------------------------
Ulrich recognizes them as juju zombies. They resist fire and weapons that aren't magical and slashing. They are immune to cold, electricity, and magic missiles.
Ulrich whispers "Juju zombies. I cannot control them all, and they're immune to the cold. I am entirely useless against them with my present spells. The best I can do is use this scroll of fireball, but I was hoping to save it for my spellbook. Fortunately, they are relatively weak considering our abilities."
Kamosh pipes up to Ulrich (who then translates) that he can hide 3 people from the undead, or fascinate the zombies with a haunting melody.
"I can hurt them." Allie says firmly. "Just keep them off me."
Elká takes in their surroundings and tries to find some rather inaccessible high ground for the casters to claim. "There's ... a lot of them, Alessandra. How about a good ol' bait and switch? I think I can outrun them, and once they start moving, you unload your worst on them. Zombies are stupid, right? Might as well use that."
"I'm game." The dhampir replies, a strange grey light beginning to shine between her clenched fists.
"So if I understand this right, Elka draws them in towards us, Alessandra blasts them, and then we clash in melee. Is that correct?"
"I'd rather not 'clash in melee' if it's all the same to everyone," Gabbi says with a sigh. "I can actually unload my worst on them from right here if we'd like to draw them to us."
Most of you take up position atop a ruined building across the street from the cathedral. Elka ducks inside the nave and begins shouting to get the zombies' attention. The horde shouts in rage and turns to attack the changeling!
"Why did I agree to this?! Why did I suggest this?!", she spits at herself as the band of zombies eye her and come to the unanimous decision that she does indeed look rather tasty. She runs. Oh, she runs.
"You're going to be fine, Elka."
Ulrich takes a shot with his little crossbow
Allie grins and unleashes a huge spray of the strange grey light over the zombies, whose flesh burns at its touch.
[ooc]Or dazzled if they make Ref DC17[/dice]
As the hoard moves forward, Gabbi settles her feet and begins firing arrows at the oncoming undead rabble.
As Elka comes running out, Allie engulfs the zombies with a burst of radiant light. Then Gabby sets to work, firing arrow after arrow into the teeming throng. Her first shot drops three zombies at once, and each one after that takes another pair out. Within moments, all of the undead lie unmoving on the street.
You hear a scraping sound on the other side of the makeshift barrier, then a pair of armored women wave for you to come inside. "Quickly! Before more undead arrive!"
Once on the other side, they quickly shove the barrier back in place. "Thank the Inheritor you arrived when you did. We need all the help we can get. I am Brandrak, and this is Torva. We are part of a unit led by Captain Kellen Shaylee. We were fortunate enough to survive the blast while near to the cathedral and came to lend a hand.
"Several dozen survivors are crammed into the ruins of the cathedral, and only Second Sword Knight Aylunna Varvatos and a few priests are on hand to tend to them. Ceto Malderra arrived recently, as well, and the fact that such a notable celebrity survived has been good for morale.
"You should speak to Captain Shaylee on the balcony to see where you are needed the most."
"Yes, we'll speak to Captain Shaylee," Gabriella says with a nod. "The only thing I'd say to Ceto Malderra is a big, fat 'I told you so', and I don't think that would improve our relationship."
She gestures for Brandrak to lead the way.
Ulrich whispers to Dondun
"Are you in need of a non-detection spell?"
As they walk towards the balcony, Ulrich says to the group
"We may want to speak with the Second Sword as well, as she may be aware of the seal. I suspect, as this is the only building to survive, that the seal may be located here and may have survived."
"You didn't feel it?" Alessandra asks the necromancer in surprise. "Just after the explosion there was a... burst of something. Positive energy I think. I don't think the seal survived."
She seems happy to visit the Sword-Knight however, once Rascal is let in as well.
An enormous broken church bell lies within a crater in the eastern half of this chamber’s marble floor. Overhead, a partially collapsed balcony illustrates the obvious path of the bell’s descent. The western side of this room is a mass of broken marble and splintered wood, across from a set of metal doors free from debris. A makeshift gatehouse encloses wide to the south. To the north, at the top of a few cracked steps, stands a broken altar and a huge font half-full of clear water.
Dozens of ragged survivors huddle on bedrolls here. Five priests move among the survivors, sharing food and providing words of comfort.
The stairs lead up to the balcony, where several cots and stools are jammed beneath an enormous hanging tapestry depicting Iomedae's eleven sacred acts. Captain Kellen Shaylee is here--a tall, well-muscled woman with dark skin and platinum blonde hair.
"Well met. May the Inheritor bless you," she says wearily. "I'm grateful to see some friendly faces amid all this chaos. [b]"We can use all the help we can get defending the cathedral and considering how best to get the survivors of this catastrophe safely out of Vigil."
"We'll help as much as we're able. But we're going to need to rest first. We've been fighting and discovering those responsible for this unthinkable event for the last day and a half."
Her eyes move around the scattered people, looking to see if Ceto Malderra is anywhere nearby.
"You didn't feel it?" Alessandra asks the necromancer in surprise. "Just after the explosion there was a... burst of something. Positive energy I think. I don't think the seal survived."
"Positive energy is not exactly my focus. Very difficult to make use of in the arcane arts." Ulrich replies, though he does seem perplexed that he managed to miss it.
-----------------
"Hello Captain. I am a graduate doctor in anatomy and non-magical healing practices. Would you like for me to employ my skills here?"
”Your skills would be very appreciated here, Doctor. You will find no shortage of injured to treat,” Kellen tells Ulrich. She turns to Gabby. ”Take some time to recover. We will need you at full strength.
“The largest obstacle to getting the survivors out of the city is the monster that stalks the skies. The survivors have taken to calling it the Haunting Dark. It swoops from the skies to target any group leaving the city, and the cellar beneath the cathedral is full of injured people who barely survived the clouds of greasy darkness the Haunting Dark creates. Second Sword Knight Varvatos and I concluded that we must destroy the Haunting Dark before getting the survivors out of the ruined city, and Aylunna had an idea about how to do so.
“The cathedral’s defenders are in contact with other survivors in Vigil’s sole remaining ballista tower, and Aylunna knows that a sacred ballista bolt called Iomedae’s needle is stored in the ossuaries beneath the cathedral. Aylunna went to retrieve this relic along with Ceto Malderra, and I hoped to have someone deliver it to the ballista tower and use it against the Haunting Dark.”
"Rest then find Aylunna then." Allie summarises. "Simple enough."
If it is established that the group is going to rest, she will go down into the cellar and expend all her healing magics before sleeping.
Gabbi nods in agreement. "Rest first, yes," she says.
You head to the cellar of the Sancta Iomedae. This large rectangular cellar is crammed with bedrolls and minor personal belongings. Eight stout stone pillars hold up the ceiling, each carved with depictions of saints. Stairs ascend back into the cathedral to the north, near a large barricade of wood timbers and metal spikes. A second, similar barricade stands near a gap in the cellar’s western wall. Although a stone lintel and posts are visible at the top of this gap, the stone around the doorframe has crumbled away, resulting in a wider opening.
The priests of the cathedral have brought the most badly injured survivors here, where they can be cared for in cool safety. Nearly 40 survivors are crowded in this room and stretched out on the bedrolls. These survivors can tell horrifying tales of the explosion that rocked Vigil recently, and nearly all have lost friends and loved ones in the cataclysm, people they saw rise as undead. Many survivors speak of the Haunting Dark--a massive, bat-like creature that lurks in the clouds above, swooping down to snatch up screaming victims or conjuring lethal clouds of greasy darkness.
After using your healing resources to treat the wounded, you settle down for a fitful rest. Once you wake up, you prepare to head through the barricade to the west into the deeper catacombs, from whence Aylunna Varvatos and Ceto Malderra have yet to return...
After listening to the stories, Gabriella nods in understanding. "It sounds like a nightwing. It's an intelligent form of summoned undead," she says to the others. "Like most undead, it's immune to cold and its bite drains magic. It can use quite a few magical attacks and can kill from a distance. Very dangerous." She smirks. "That said, give me cover from its spell attacks and I think I could bring it down."
Unlike Gabriella, Elká isn't quite as chirpy. In fact, she seems taken aback by the dhampir's mood. "And how would go about doing that? Wouldn't it simply fly away the moment it feels threatened? You just told us it is intelligent and capable of magic?! I think there's a reason the Iomedeans are looking for a sacred weapon ... trust me when I say this, when the zealots seek sanctuary in blessed arms, you know that you ain't dealing with an ordinary threat."
"Oh, I am quite aware of this thing's capabilities," Gabbi responds. "I was just pointing out that it's not beyond our capacity. Would I want to face this thing single-handedly? Hells no. I'd much rather shove this 'needle' up the things arse-end. But if it did come to just it and us, I believe we would prevail."
"Oh my, a nightwing is no simple matter." Ulrich says with raised eyebrows. "It has access to powerful magical abilities, both arcane and divine. Not only necromancy, as one might assume, but quite varied abilities. Invisibility, paralysis, shadow summoning, frost evocation, dispels, disease, and negative energy channeling. It is not to be taken lightly... Actually, that is an amusing pun, because it does suffer in the sunlight. It is a native to the shadowplane, where light is but a pale echo of this realm."
He sits down and begins to ruminate, clearly strategizing while flipping through his spellbook. It isn't long however before his eyes struggle to open, the book lays flat on his lap, and the older man falls asleep.
Come morning, Ulrich groans as he straightens out his joins, and then settles in to prepare his spells.
------------------------------
Spells Prepared
------------------------------
0th (at will) Detect Magic, Disrupt Undead, Mending, Prestidigitation
1st dancing lantern, feather fall, jump, repair undead x2, vanish
2nd blood transcription, command undead,
3rd dispel magic, disable construct, halt undead, haste x2,
4th bestow curse, boneshatter, positive pulse greater x2, wall of bone
5th hungry earth, suffocation, telekinesis x2
Once you are ready, you head west into the ossuary. Bleached skulls line the walls of this low room, neatly arranged in shallow niches. Each skull is engraved across the forehead with a name and two dates. The lowest niches hold stone boxes filled with gray powder instead of skulls. Four smaller pillars surround a much larger pillar adorned with inlays of gold and silver and individual niches containing skulls. To the south, a statue of an angel towers over a fountain filled with still, dark water. A stone double door stands in the north wall.
Ulrich scans the room for magic. He's most interested in the fountain of dark water.
Ulrich believes the water of the fountain is awaiting a blessing to turn into holy water to consecrate the ossuary before it would be sealed.
The two sets of tracks manage to temporarily confound the changeling. She rubs the tip of her nose as she ponders what to do next. "Odd. I see two sets of tracks, but where the one leading to the double door is to be expected, the other set leads to the pillar and then ... eh, well, it stops as if the person vanished into thin air."
The whole thing puts Elká on edge. "And yes, this place gives me the creeps. Bury your death. Or even better, burn them." With that said, she sneaks forward and scans the place for any and all danger.
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Gabriella notices Ulrich fall asleep during his reading. The smile that appears on her face quite different than the sarcastic one that generally resides there. She moves over quietly to the man and closes his book, leaving his bookmark in place. She then lays him down and pulls his bedroll blanket up to cover his shoulders. She looks down at him for a moment and considers sliding under the blanket to sleep next to him.
Too complicated.
She compromises with a quick kiss on his cheek and then returns to settle in next to her sister.
Gabbi eyes the tracks as well.
She then looks over the pillar as well for any auras.
During the morning, Ulrich asks Dondun what spells he's prepared for the day. Does he have access to his chest yet?
"Burning the bodies may remove the chance of a skeleton or a zombie, but there are far more sinister undead that may linger without the need of a body." Ulrich replies.
Ulrich cocks his head and gives the stone pillar a good tap with the butt of his staff. "I distrust footsteps that disappear into nothingness. It always suggests illusions."
Dondun's demeanor has been subdued since seeing the devastation of Vigil. It appears the man has been truly humbled by the scope of the destruction.
He stirs when Ulrich asks him about spells. The old man pulls out the small chest and murmurs a few words, causing a full-sized chest to appear beside him. "Got my books in here. Feel free to take a look."
***
It appears each set of tracks was left by one humanoid. It's likely Aylunna and Ceto split up and went in opposite directions.
Elka discovers a secret door in the large pillar, but its lock is reinforced with magic, making it beyond the changeling's skill to open.
Looking further around the room, you realize that the frescoes on the walls only depcit 10 of Iomedae's 11 legendary miracles. The secret door is located within a blank spot where the 11th miracle would be depicted.
Gabby and Ulrich recall that Iomedae's eleventh miraculous act was to cast her cloak across the Pit of the Starstone in Absalom, which expanded into a walkway across the gap.
Ulrich takes a good look at Dondun's spells, many of which he doesn't know in detail, but enough that he can figure out a little here and there.
"Abjuration, Enchantment, Conjuration, Illusion, Evocation... Dondun, you..."
Ulrich can't even finish his sentence. The irony is too strong, and laughter wells up within the wizard and escapes into louder and louder howls of emotion. Tears flow freely from Ulrich's eyes, and he grabs his sides in his fit of insanity.