"It's all this armor." Allie says, "The graveknights. I think we'll meet more and we need to destroy their armor permenantly. I was thinking having an outsider take them to the positive energy plane would do it."
Then she brightens. "That fire elemental gem we found. Would that do it? Give them to the elemental and tell it to take them back to its home plane?"
Reporting it is clear, she helps and guards the party members as they descend down below.
Amnayel glares at Ulrich and Allie on the discussion of summoning outsiders, taking care to not participate in that conversation.
Allie returns the paladin's glare with a look of innocence, which involves nibbling her bottom lip. This makes her look rather cute, which may not have been accidental...
"Help me down?" She asks the paladin, all innocence.
Amnayel must have completely misunderstood what Allie was talking about, because those huge puppy eyes surely could not have implied anything derogatory at all. Unlike that waste of a human necromancer...
"I would love to." she says with a smile, flying up to take her into her arms. As they descend, she plays into the oracle's trap. "You know, when you bite your lip like that, it is very sexy."
"Really?" Allie asks, eyes big and shining. She's biting her lip again too... "Well maybe later you can bite it too?" She gives the paladin a brief peck as she hops out of Amny's arms and smiles up at the angelic warrior.
"You should ask Gabbi to do it." She adds, mischief dancing in her eyes. "She has an adorable pout."
"Oh, I might just take you up on that offer." the paladin says, a telling smile on her lips. "Gabriella is adorable despite her best efforts to pretend like she's having none of it. I find her defensive barriers to be quite extensive. Luckily however, I can see the beauty in them. I think she would rather spend time with you or Ulrich before me.
Which is fine, of course. I am not trying to get in between anyone. I am quite happy with whatever the rising sun brings me."
A slight grin creeps through Ulrich's beard at the mention of Gabbi's pout.
"We still have time before the graveknights reform. We can figure it out by then. I am more inclined to learn a disintegration spell rather than something conjuration related. How I miss a day of rest and study, yet, could I ever return to such a life. I wonder."
Earlier, Arazni replied to Ulrich's sending: "The Council Libertine. My 'husband' has dispatched them to drag me home before. Eradicating them would be a personal favor. My handmaidens aren't as bad."
A few moments later, she follows up with another sending. "Continue to search for a way to disable the witch-gates that we might teleport freely through Virlych. Then we will deal with the Whispering Tyrant."
***
You are able to descend safely to the level below this one. Doors lead either north or south, or you could continue down the next pit to an even lower dungeon level.
Ulrich mentally replies
"It will be done, my Lady."
Ulrich says "I received a message from our Patron. She has asked us to destroy any of Geb's forces who are looking for her. They're called The Council Libertine."
Regarding the question of which way to go, Ulrich says
"I would prefer we slowly eradicate everything before descending further. Reinforcements that flank us could be devastating."
"Agreed." Allie says, looking left and right. "No surprises."
Gabbi rolls her eyes as her sister manipulates the paladin in a fashion that even a two-year-old could identify. With a shake of her head, she steps out and floats down the pit to join the rest.
You head through the north door. Long ovens line the walls of this large chamber. One still crackles with flame, though the room is cold. A single creature lurks here, a mummified woman wearing an ornate mask. Spiders crawl over her wrappings, which are laced with bits of webs.
Kamosh can immediately grasp the tragedy. This woman was once a psychopomp known as a morrigna. Her very existence as undead is anathema to everything she represents.
”No! Don’t look at me!” she shrieks before lurching to attack!
"Pharasma's throne," Gabbi's mutters when she sees the pathetic creature.
She readies her bow, but pain crosses her face. "Your true judgement awaits, noble servant, the Gray Lady will reward you," she says as she draws and fires.
"WHAT!? PSYCHOPOMPS CAN BE UNDEAD!?"
His eyes, for a brief moment, stare into nothingness
"I could become undead?"
Gabbi hits the mummified morrigna with three arrows, though the impact of each is blunted. The wounds begin to regenerate as well. ”The stench of the Boneyard clings to you... You must not bear witness to my shame!” she shrieks, blasting the inquisitor with searing light.
"BE GONE EVIL CREATURE!" Amnayel shouts, raising her shield and burying it into the creature with righteous fury!
"You can not escape her judgement this way!" Gabbi shouts back.
"If it works for her..." Allie says with a shrug, before retaliating against the creature with Searing Light.
Ulrich prepares to cast Dispel Magic (Greater) as a counterspell
The mummy howls as Allie blasts it with searing light. Amnayel moves in to attack, her strike just shy of a critical hit. Gabbi’s arrows all miss as the nimble creature dodges the attacks! Ulrich prepares a counterspell, but the monster explodes in a burst of speed attacks Amnayel with her fists and wrappings instead of using magic.
Ulrich has Kamosh flank with Amnayel, delivering a Chilly Peck in the back.
This particular undead seems to have rattled the resolute inquisitor and her aim reflects it.
"Snap out of it Gabbi!" Allie says sharply, turning to her sister. "Do you job Inquisitor, and end this thing!"
Happy to have Kamosh assisting her, she uses the positioning to help smash her shield into her foe.
The undead psychopomp continues to prove to be a formidable foe. She resists Ulrich's attempt to panic her and parries each of Amnayel's attacks. She deflects one of Gabbi's arrows--even with Allie's aid, the inquisitor only lands one hit!
The mummy pounds on Amnayel again, delivering several strikes including a critical hit that almost lays the paladin low!
"Oh come on!" Allie snarls, stepping forwards to infuse Amnayel with life. The radiance pours out of the paladin for a few moments, putting her at the centre of a corona of light.
HP back for Amny.
"She's too fast, Allie!" Gabbi snaps back as she tries to get a better lead on the nimble mummy. She takes a breath and slows down.
Falling to a knee from the sheer brutality of the attack, she is suddenly overwhelmed with positive energy. She lashes out three times with her shield, but her strength hasn't returned even though her wounds have healed.
Kamosh delivers another chilly peck, while Ulrich tries a boneshaker spell.
You still struggle to hit the tough mummy, her defenses proving quite robust. Gabbi lands an arrow in her desiccated body, but Amnayel's attacks come up short. The morrigna resists the chill touch, but Ulrich affects her with his boneshaker spell, forcefully dragging her across the chamber. This provides an opening for Amnayel to attack again, and she finally manages to smash the undead's skull with her shield! With a final sigh of relief, the psychopomp crumbles to dust, leaving only her armor and bandages behind.
"Well that was odd." Allie comments lightly, with considerable understatement. "Who needs patching up?"
Sheating her blade, she turns and faces Allie. "Was that you, Alessandra? Blessed be your touch of grace and power! I was nearly through, thank you for having my back and restoring me. Perhaps you will accompany me for prayers this evening to celebrate?"
Gabbi walks over and looks down at the armor and bandages that are all that remain of the doomed pychopomp. "So even the favored may fall," she says quietly to herself.
Kneeling down, she says a quiet prayer over the bandages. She rises a moment later, her eyes seeking out her sister. Seeing Amnayel extending another invitation, she rolls her eyes and turns to step away from the group to survey for more threats.
"Concerning." Ulrich says. "That psychopomp is quite powerful. For it to fall into undeath, which is something I did not know was even possible, does not bode well. If all outsiders can be turned to undeath, that changes everything."
Sheating her blade, she turns and faces Allie. "Was that you, Alessandra? Blessed be your touch of grace and power! I was nearly through, thank you for having my back and restoring me. Perhaps you will accompany me for prayers this evening to celebrate?"
"Well it wasn't nap time, can't have you falling over on the job." Allie says, trying to keep the tone light. She doesn't accept the offer of prayers, but she doesn't decline it outright either.
Seeing Gabbi looking like she has a bad case of sunburn she approaches her sister, smears blood across the worst affected areas and then proceeds to like it off again like an overly affectionate puppy, before supplying the most important part of the healing process - a deep kiss.
The door to the north opens on a long hallway that stretches to the east. A door is set in the south wall halfway down its length, and another door is at the far end.
As the others start walking down the hall, Kamosh turns invisible and glides over to the first south turn to scout.
Allie points to the nearer door and approaches, although she gives Gabbi a moment to examine it first.
The door does not appear to be trapped. Beyond, a large pyramid of smooth, black stone stands in the middle of an enormous chamber. Four statues of the Whispering Tyrant stand facing the pyramid, each fifteen feet tall. Passages in the pyramid’s side extend into its inky depths.
Two dread wraiths emerge from the darkness within the pyramid to confront you, floating 15 feet apart. “Halt, outsiders! To trespass is not wise. One of us speaks only truth and the other only lies. And if that identity you can surmise, then from him you must beg passage, and from falsehood avert your eyes.”
One of the dread wraiths then says, “The pyramid brings night to day,” and the other says, “Travelers in the Tyrant’s lands are unwelcome.”
Allie makes a frowning face as though she's actually thinking about what they said and steps into arm's reach of her sister.
Gabbi raises an eyebrow at her sister.
The dhampir directs her question towards the wraith speaking of the pyramid. "Would the other wraith tell me that you lie?" she asks.
”Of course,” the wraith replies. ”The Tyrant is gone, yet remains.”
“Time and death are synonymous,” the other one says.
Kamosh remembers that Wraiths have lifesense, and so he promptly backs off.
Ulrich pays more attention to the path they just came from, rather than the dread wraiths ahead. He's concerned that this is meant to delay them for a pincer attack.
"How does the Tyrant still remain?" Gabbi asks the same wraith, her eyes narrowing. "And how does the pyramid bring night to day?"
”His essence lingers on all that he has touched,” the wraith says. ”The pyramid’s power flows from that essence.”
Out of the corner of her eye, Gabbi notices the other wraith inching closer to her while her attention is focused on the first, malevolence glinting in its red eyes...
"I think the time for riddles has passed then," she snaps as she draws and fires on the one approaching her.