"If you need a chance for something, I can probably sell you a spell strong enough to do it!" Maika called out. "There's no need to go through all of this when there's a better, easier way! Surrender now, and you may find it to be by far the better choice!"
Letting her eyes shift over the battlefield, they found their way to Eldran, and Carrie stunned next to him. She shoots forward towards them, ducking around Adol's frame to wrap an arm around Carrie's waist from behind. Sticking her tongue out at Eldran, she quickly lets out an arcane chant and a wave of her hand, Dimension Dooring the two of them away.
Taking a step back with a hand on her hip, she gives Carrie a quick once over glance before grinning and shouting over her shoulder at Rirsa in a mock formal tone. "I saved the princess, fair queen! If it is not trouble, bestow upon this intrepid hero a boon!""
With most of the bloodless fallen, Alithea will shake off her wounds from negative energy, grumbling to herself about the undead. Alithea wants to wait to see if Maika's efforts for peace will be successful, so she readies herself to prevent Eldran's escape.
"Bring who back? Surrender and fill us in, you have no other recourse but final rest." Alithea shouts out to Eldran.
The undead leader's eyes bug out. "Surrender?" he stammers, "You must mistake me for some kind of peasant!" He steps away from Adol and attempts to guard his own movements from the warrior, casting a spell. "Just try and kill me, you plebians!" and then he dodges Alithea's attack and vanishes from sight.
"How about no?" The moment Maika saw what he was casting - she was capable enough with Spellcraft that she really couldn't have failed to recognize it - she let her readied magic missiles loose to punch into him and see if she could disrupt his casting. She had no intention of letting him get away quite that easily.
The undead staggers back, scowling as his spellcasting is interrupted.
The moment she saw her spell take effect, Maika began to gather more energy around her hand, ready to disrupt a second attempt to magically dart out of the way. She'd given him an offer - if he refused it, well, that was his decision. She was only the hired help, though, so... "How would you like to handle this?" she asked the others, fully committed to supporting the efforts of those who'd bought her services (even if not all of them were directly paying). Maika didn't just sell her magic; she offered her loyalty, too, and would do her best to uphold both the letter and spirit of her employer's objectives as she understood them.
"He's been using magic to convert these sacrifices into these... vessels. It's something I cannot stand for. If we could subdue him, I'd be interested in learning what he is up to, but undead are notoriously hard to subdue as they cannot be knocked unconscious, stunned or paralyzed. If one of our more capable warriors can grapple him, perhaps we can bind him." Alithea shouts out in response to Maika.
Breathing heavily and about to strike, Adol still retrains himself long enough to listen. "And risk him him getting away? Look at what he did! He did this to innocent children !" he motions over the collected coagulated blood and gore on the floor. "We can't risk this happening to someone else, and what is to say what he says is truthful?"
He shakes his head. "No. I won't give this... 'man' any more time on Golarion than needed. I hope Estivas might grant you redemption in the afterlife one day, though I doubt it."
With that, Adol smites Eldath with the full fury of what he can muster, tearing into his body.
With the full force of divinity behind him, Adol strikes the man again and again, driving him into the ground with the force of his attacks and slicing deep rents into him. The man's breathing stops...
But then, it begins once more, and before your very eyes his flesh begins to re-knit. He coughs, and raises his head on neck muscles that are still re-stitching themselves. "I told you... You couldn't destroy me..."
He's undead? Rirsa brushes herself off and walks towards the man Let me talk to him...
Rirsa doesn't noticeably change; but you can feel something different about her.
I know you're angry at us; but Could you at least explain to me why you were turning these people into undead? I just don't have the context on how sacrifing these people helps them. I would actually like to save people rather than destroy them. But you shout and offer us no other reasonable alternative but to put a stop to this... Help me understand.
Uliaza scratches her head from where she stands, looking over at where everyone's got the man surrounded. Taking the moment to try and get Carrie back among the land of the living, she snaps in front of her face. "Hello, Cleric? Can you read me? Did he scramble your brains, or are you just dazed? Can you even understand a word I say? Deurgar make the best armrests!"
Carrie comes to, shaking her head and rubbing her cheeks. She looks at Uliaza. She shakes her head in lack of understanding. "Mi bedaŭras, mi ne povas paroli vian lingvon," she says.
Eldran spits on the ground. "Surrender, and I will tell you!" he snarls. As his flesh regenerates, he attempts to crawl away towards the entrance.
Adol follows the crawling reshaping mass of undead with a nonplussed look. His surprise is so great that it temporarily shakes him out of his combat high. "I... guess he isn't talking. How is he still alive? Does anyone know what to do about this?"
"Actually... I remember one of my fellow pathfinders once talking about a creature with similar abilities. They erased it from reality by planeshifting it to the plane of dreams and then leaving it there in a helpless state. Perhaps something similar can work here? Or maybe just moving him to the plane of fire or positive energy? He's not telling us anything anyway."
He then kneels down, and tries to keep the flesh from growing back too quickly. "In the meantime, stay . Maybe there is something on you that can help us out regardless."
Uliaza sighs and rubs her temples, glancing over at where Eldran is crawling away. "He's literally crawling, just tie him up now until we can figure out a way to get what we want out of him. Maybe the Governor will be willing to share when we show up with him in tow."
"I can send him to another plane if you want me to." Maika noted. Plane Shifting was well within her powers, and undead generally didn't enjoy the experience of going somewhere like the positive energy plane. After a moment, she added, "With funding, I could also attempt polymorphing him into a vulnerable shape. If his regeneration comes from his body, that would shut it down entirely. I can't guarantee it will work if this effect comes from another source, though..."
Calxakti chuckles at the undead’s helpless state before saying, ”Worry not, I can take him far. far away from here. Besides, I’ve no need for the payment that would be due to our transactional friend here. If we want him around though, we could hog tie him and chop his limbs off as they grow back. Pilpilli the Endless shall grow for eternity, and his seventy-seven fingers shall feed the faithful until the next cycle.”
As he regenerates, the undead on the floor manages to keep his wits about him (despite his great wounds) enough to cast a spell. As it finishes, he finds his spellcraft unwoven by Alithea just as fast as he can weave it. He screams with frustration, and then roars, "I will make a deal with you, if you will help me! Let me stand up, put away your weapons! I do not wish to be sent to another dimension."
Rirsa looks at him for a moment; then turns to tend to her cousin - explaining and translating as she does so. I would like to know why; so we can tell their families Rirsa stops and gestures towards the bodies before continuing. They deserve to know why- you know that. And I want to know what we'd even be helping you with. Rirsa wipes the good off of her Estoc before sheathing it.
Ni bezonas scii kial li faras ĉi tion; kaj kiel malebligi ĉi tion en la estonteco.Se ni ne ŝatas lian klarigon, ni planos lin al la pozitiva energio.
"Now that he is all that remains, he cannot cast spells anymore. I'll see to that. I don't imagine he'll be able to escape through mundane means in his state." Alithea assures the other. "Besides, there's no need for planar travel, we can simply disintegrate him if we must. But I'm far more interested in learning about what's been happening in this town."
ĉu vi estas bone Carie?Rirsa looks through her bag; then shakes her head. I'm out of holy water. and then translates this to Carie (she should understand well enough; why I'm commenting on that well enough)
Adol sighs. "Very well. If we are to interrogate him further, we should ensure he also cannot escape by more physical means. I'm afraid I don't have anything with me that is sufficiently strong to bind a creature such as this. I can try grappling him while we continu this discussion, though. I suggest we search him in the meantime and confiscate anything of note he is carrying. If he can't die, it will at least weaken him, potentially help us defend the village and serve as a recompense for these families later. If there's nothing magical, I know that sometimes people carry journals with them that can tell you quite a bit. Is anyone capable of detecting such and performing the search while I hold him in place?"
The undead leader struggles and pushes against Adol - he is frightfully strong, stronger than any normal human could possibly get. However, he is just not as good a fighter as Adol is, meaning Adol has not-too-difficult of a time holding him down.
Carrie nods at Rirsa. She's just fine, two punches is nothing.
The undead man isn't carrying much. He's wearing very nice clothing (although getting him out of them would be much too big a task for a struggling opponent), and quite a lot of expensive, old jewellery. He is also carrying two potions and three scrolls. Alithea automatically and easily identifies the potions as being inflict serious wounds and the scrolls as being stoneskin, obscuring mist, and wall of stone.
"I suppose we should take him to the mayor and see what he has to say about all this. We saw a few of the undead remaining outside and chances are they'd attack us, so we should be careful. However, it's probably best to destroy them all anyway. Then, depeding on what we learn, one approach is to evacuate the village for those fit to leave and create shelter for those who cannot. If this dragon then shows up again, we will be waiting for it. At least, that's what looks as the best approach to me at this moment. It will be logistically hard, but it would keep everyone safe as much as possible."
Rirsa watches Adol grapple the undead man with a cool look in her eyes; obviously disapparoving. I suppose we should take him to the Count then; perhaps he'll prove more coorpertive than this one; also Adol- he had agree to help- so why don't you hold off on the grabbing until he does something foolish. She thinks for a moment We have him at our effective mercy right now anyways- he attacks us- someone here can probably plane shift him to the positive energy plane and anchor him there. She swishes her cloak around her once more; a sign that she is ready to leave.
Adol smiles softly. " Perhaps you are a better person than I, lady Rirsa. Or perhaps you are too kind. This man has presumably killed at least thirteen children to turn them into his personal guards, hoarding the villagers inside to further prey upon them and their fears. He punched out lady Carrie with just two strikes. He is unnaturally strong, can cast spells, his wounds heal as we speak and he seemingly cannot be killed. It seems very dangerous to let him walk without restraints. If he overpowers anyone, takes a hostage or something similar and then gets away, we'd have failed in our duty to their families of bringing
him to justice."
He looks to everyone else for advice. "Though if you all wish it I'll let him walk by himself."
He claims to have cause; I would hear it before deciding on his fate. She pauses And this city's loss will prove greater if we fail to stop what dark thing forced this man's hand. We would do well to know our enemies before facing them.
Maika was pretty sure the others knew they could get various extra magics from her if need be, and it was annoying if you constantly pushed the matter. With that, she settled for keeping an eye on things, though she did begin to move around and give some rites to all of the bodies as the others considered what to do.
"You should consider the situation carefully before acting, Adol. The information he's offered us is quite valuable. Consider what happens if you hold on to him, even grappled he'll be able to slam you. It's a battle of attrition, and he has unending stamina and health. No matter how much physically stronger than him you are, you will eventually lose. You are a mighty force, but he is an immovable object, so to speak." Alithea said plainly.
"We can rely on better bindings, ultimately, but getting what we want voluntarily seems much easier. I will prevent any spells he tries to cast. Even then, killing him will be hard. He is a potent caster so even sending him to the positive energy plane may well not kill him. There is some recourse, but I think we're best off just listening to him, and learn the subject of his hatred and unrest. He is a revenant, empowered through hatred of a specific creature. It's possible that the object of his hatred is something else harmful or dangerous we're otherwise inclined to get rid of, which would solve two problems at once. Besides, I suspect the mayor knows little, and arresting his advisor is not likely a good way to start a discussion." She continues, pointing out the enormous difficulty Eldran's remarkable abilities present.
"Now, Mr Eldran, if our burly companion were to release you, would you still be willing to fill us in?" She asks with neither affection nor hatred, understanding that the revenant is so driven in both his hatred and evil nature, incapable of his own proper will, despite his intelligence.
Saint Uliaza raises her hands from where she stands. "Don't look at me, I deal with slavers, not crazy regenerating undead monstrosities. Hear what he's got to say so we can figure out what'll actually put him to rest. Maybe we can talk to the Count afterwards and get everyone working together?"
The undead spits in Adol's face, shouts, "I gave you a chance!" and then melts into the ground beneath Adol, dropping until Adol's fingers brush stone and are forced to let go.
A few seconds pass as she stares at where the undead was, before she slams her hand into her forehead. "Dammit, this just got a whole lot more complicated... Who wants to bet that he'll show up again at the worst possible time? I'll take a bet for fifty gold that he'll show up again at the worst possible time."
Throwing her hands up, she turns to face the temple's door and squints at it. "In all seriousness, we should probably find the Count and talk to him. Whatever confidence he has in that undead, will probably be shaken by the fact that we beat him without any losses."
The count seemed more afraid; than anything. Rirsa started to say but that may have been due to the Dragon rather than the Necromancer. In either case he appears to be our only lead... Shall we move on? She queries the question to Carie as well.
Unfazed, Adol simply wipes off the spittle with his blue scarf. "You didn't give us a chance," he says to the withdrawing form of sand. "What you instead did was promise to tell us something for an advance promise that we would help you with an undefined task. And seeing what you were trying to do to these villagers, no sane person would so so."
When the form is completely gone, he sighs. "I'm sorry, lady Alithea. What you said is wisdom, but I couldn't bring myself to trust or forgive him. I might have gotten carried away in the horror of this scene. It hit a bit close to home."
Then, he turns to Ulliaza. "You're right. It is doubtless that he will be back, but for now, the situation is easier without him as a prisoner. Some of us need to rush to the mayor, in case the undead tries to abduct or kill him to cover his tracks, and destroy the remaining bloodless on the way. The undead would likely have figured out we were heading there next, and might seek to sabotage our efforts."
Walking to one of the dazed villagers, he adds: "In the meantime, some of us should stay here, in case he or other bloodless come back for these men and women. Even in case they don't, the second group can search this place more thoroughly for any clues or other things of note. If this was the undead leader's base of operations during his time here, he probably left something behind in his abrupt eviction. At the very least, they can try to figure out how to turn these sacrifices-to-be back to normal."
Finally, he looks up. "By Estivas... all of this is a mess. But there must be a reason behind all this. Why would a mythical dragon bother with attacking a small town like this multiple times, and why would this powerful undead get involved with any of this? He probably would have been much harder to find in a large city like Absalom, or Oppara for that matter. Surely word of undead guards posted at the gates would gave gotten out over time. Both of them seem to uneccessarily risk themselves..."
"Anyway, I volounteer to go out and rush for the mayor", he continued, shaking himself out of it and wiping the corpsedust from his falcata. "We don't have time to waste. Who is with me and who prefers staying behind to search and defend this place?"
While he plans, Adol searches the room for his missing person, eventually finding what he feared - the Akitonian warrior in a pile of corpses of what appear to be Adabaran clerics.
Carrie leans over to Rirsa and asks, "Se ĉi mortintoj estas tia minaco, kial nia unua prioritato ne ĉasas lin? Ni montris, ke ni povas facile helpi lin."
Alithea sighs, "You rush too much, young one." She says to Adol. "You've acted several times already without considering the consequences of your actions. You say it hits close to home, perhaps you need to review that trauma. If you cannot speak of it, you have not accepted it as part of your past, and it will forever cloud your judgment." She places her hand on the young warrior.
"And now you're ready to rush off again without us having a plan of what to ask the mayor. You say we have no time to waste, but without considering your action, you waste all the better paths you could have taken. As a youth and a paladin I understand you're drawn to action, but action can have a much higher price than patience."
Alithea then turns to the whole group. "I do think leaving a group here to search the area is wise. I think I have the appropriate knowledge to stay here and study these addled villagers. I'd nominate that Adol stay here with me, and we can send Lady Loldan to the manor, keeping someone expert with a blade per group. I believe Ulliaza will be most of use snooping around the Mayor's. Between Maika and Calaxti, I do not have a strong opinion on their allocation. Of course, you all know yourselves better than I." She then waits for the others to offer their input on her thoughts.
La mortintoj ne ŝajnas regeneri de iu ajn vundo, kiun ni kaŭzas al ĝi ... Rirsa gestures towards Alithea; before continuing-
Laŭ Alithea; por venki lin, ni devas forigi la malamatan aferon, kiu tenas lin alkroĉiĝi al ĉi tiu mondo.
2.)According to Alithea; in order to beat him we have to eliminate the hated thing that keeps him clinging to this world.
Alithea; might I assume that you know aught about revenants and their cause? If so- what sort of thing drives a man to hate so much that it drives him onwards even beyond death?
Alithea is correct Adol; I've personally watched someone work a great tragedy because he never took the time to actually contemplate his actions. All of us make waves in the ocean; we in particular make waves that leave much longer lasting impressions the stronger we get... We should try to ensure that they are the waves we want to make.
Adol keeps his gaze fixed on the hand on his shoulder, unwilling or perhaps unable to meet Alithea's. "If you desire to know, it's Galt," he begins in a monotome voice. "I wish such sights were more uncommon. The difference is that in this case, this was done by a monster. There, the people themselves, or those who pass themselves off as the law, are the monsters. I suppose that makes this slightly more bearable to witness, but that is neither here nor there. No one should have to go through this. It makes you wonder what their last moments were like."
He sighs. "Regardless, this is just a remnant. It won't affect my capacity to fight - not anymore. I will stay here instead, if that is what you and lady Rirsa desire, Although... please, do not tarry too long. I believe the chance of the mayor being in danger of this undead is legitimate, and planning for what to say to him won't matter if we arrive too late and find him dead. Who knows what this undead will do now, or what orders he will give to the remaining bloodless outside?"
He then steathes his sword, gently brushes off Alithea's touch and moves to kneel in the middle of a gathering of corpses. He tentatively streches out towards a the remains of a huge, bare-chested human-like figure. "Perhaps... it is better if I stay. He was one of mine. I should be the one to perform his final rites."
Watching the small argument, she scratches her head and shrugs, choosing to focus more on trying to figure out Chevaineyan until her name is mentioned. She jumps her attention back to Alithea, a small grin coming across her features as she enthusiastically nods. "Perfect, I get to do what I'm best at! It should be especially easy with Rirsa there at the gates, being an ever so small of a distraction."
Maika paused in the midst of using some basic magic to tidy up the place. She worked with Abadar - often directly - and had a very personal interest in his churches. Her own people often worked in them. "I'm probably most useful near greater threats." she noted. "Especially for anyone who wants to prepare. Before that, however, would the injured care for a little healing?"
What kind of distraction do you need Ulliazza? Rirsa asks as she dismisses her spells. Mi pensas, ke ni poste parolos kun la grafo; kaj vidu, kie tio lasas nin. Ĉu vi bonvolus, ke Maika Resanigos vin?
"You don't have to do anything drastic or anything. Just draw some attention away. I'm gonna assume you're some form of nobility, so use that to kick up a fuss."
"A little bit of healing would be nice. I am not that injured, however, and currently cannot pay for your services, lady Maika," Adol responds. As in an afterthought, he breaks off some black patches of necrotic skin from his neck, revealing pinkish healthy ones underneath. Other than a few of those, he looks fine.
Carrie shrugs noncommittally, which Rirsa interprets as, "I don't mind, and I don't want to seem like I am asking for healing because I need it". Stubborn girl!
Mi nur tradukis por Maika. Rirsa turns around and takes a few moments to silently mourn the senseless loss of life.
I believe we should go to the Count then. Perhaps then we will find answers for the problem at hand.
At Adol's words, Maika just waved a glimmering golden holy symbol, and two pulses of positive energy swept over the group.
"I'd need funds in an account for stronger healing, such as regeneration or resurrection, but I can still do that a few more times." she noted. With that, she moved towards those planning to head out.