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For most of James' dozing, Arianna sits against the wall hugging Raakuze's sword. She went back to get her sword early on, after reassuring the others that she wasn't going to run away or do anything drastic. As she picked it up, she ran her thumb over the maker's mark on the blade just above the crosspiece.
Her mark.
She thinks about Redrock, and all of the people she'd left behind. She'd sent letters back to the village ever month or so, and had even gotten a few back in return, most of the time after they'd followed her around a bit. Everyone that had helped raised her or she had been friends with would add something to the letters.
How would they react if they knew?
She hugs the sword more tightly, the fittings clinking lightly as the weight shifts. She tries to imagine what the Thorssens would say. They had been the ones that took her in and taught her to sing and dance for their tavern, the Dancing Dragon Inn. She could see their shock, then...
Then what?
She looks down at the toes of her boots, scuffed and dusty from the hard wear they endured as she fought and traveled. She tries to think of someone else, her mentor in the art of smithing, Ol' Dorin Gaz'dum. A dwarf with nearly three centuries under his belt and all of the fire his forge could want in his belly. She tries to imagine his reaction, and comes up blank.
After several minutes of failing to think of how anyone would react, she thinks about Eska. The effects of the fungal spores seems to have worn off, but even now, Arianna finds herself unable to predict how Eska would take the news. She looks over to where the sorceress sits next to her and takes in a deep breath.
"Eska,"[smaller] she calls out softly, [smaller]"I-I need to tell you something. It's... I... I have to tell you. It's about what Frulam said in there. She... she wasn't lying. I..."
Arianna's vision blurs as tears well up in her eyes. She closes them and holds Raakuze's sword like a talisman against evil on a deep, dark night. She takes in a breath, hoping to steady her nerves.
"Before I woke up in Redrock without remembering who I was, I was raised by my parents," she explains in a flat, overly controlled voice. "They were zealots in the cult, the same one we're fighting. They wanted power, and they raised me to be their perfect minion. I've done horrible things. I've killed and tortured men and women and children whose only crime was to fall into my hands. I can... I can remember running a woman and her infant child through with a sword while screaming praises to Tiamat."
She stops then, going silent for a long while.
"I'm a monster, Eska. I wouldn't blame you for hating me," she says quietly as they continue to rest.
"Why tell me this," is what she wanted to ask before Haliel rushes back to James' side. Arianna feels confused about the angel's actions, especially after hearing her wanting Brax to not intervene.
She looks over to where the dwarf is also stirring and wonders what he thought of her now.
Did she really want to know?
The question weighs on her like a lead blanket, and she finds that she doesn't know the answer to it.
With Arianna and Eska ahead Met-Anoi's turns to Brax, "Your friend Arianna. You seem to care for her almost as if you were father so I will speak with compassion but with seriousness. Is she in the right state of mind?"
"Her actions had her flee during our encounter with the cult leader. It seems that this might be more than she can handle right now. I do not doubt that her desire is there to finish the cult but I am not sure if she has the resolve to see it through."
Brax looks around at the others. To his viewing, Arianna seems to have gotten hold of herself, but the dwarf knew that discipline could vanish in an instant, especially if they run into the woman again.
"We best be findin th' others," Brax says before Eska and Met-Anoi'a enter the room. "Me apoligiez fer us not gettin' back to ye quicker 'n we'd liked."
As the group ventures on, Brax remains silent, trying to sort through his confusion. James and Haliel hadn't tried to stop the distraught elf from taking her own life. Had he not been there, she'd be dead. But everything she'd said had hit him like a lead weight. Despite his faith that his friend would do the right thing if allowed, there would be that bit of worry that she might relapse and do something contrary to her ideals. His thoughts are interrupted by Eska's tumble down the stairs, but his thoughts are eased at her attempt at humor. She be all right at th' prezunt he thought to himself as he gave a snort at the joke.
When Arianna drifted back to him and confided in her dilemma of telling Eska what she'd told himself, James and Haliel, he whispered back, "Jist like ye told me, lass. With yer courage,"
When Met'Anoi'a questions him about Arianna's well being and expresses his concern, Brax's face turns gruff, yet stoic. "Iffen any 'a us be in th' right frame a' mind, none of us'd be here in this cave. Fer th' ones like me, 'er, an Eska, that goes twice-told cuz we got away from these ner-do-wells once before an' we come right back into their den."
The dwarf sighs before continuing. "I don't know what to tell ye. She's been through a lot, as we all 'ave in the past few days. I've been drawin' breath long enough ta know that war kin do things to ye, fer better er fer worse. All ah kin do is to be there iffen she needs 'elp jist like she did when she be needin it th' most."
Met-Anoi'a found Brax's answer to be brutally honest. They had been tasked to follow through with an extremely difficult request. While Met-Anoi'a had no ties to these caves the others had barely survived them the first time. They had lost more than an ally here it seemed. To get through this they would need to find faith in something. For Met-Anoi'a he had Torm. But the others who or what did they have to turn to?
"You know best Brax. I will provide assistance when and where I can. Keep watch on her. I will ask no more of this topic unless required." Met-Anoi'a quieted down leaving Brax to dwell on his thoughts. He wondered what more would they find in these caves. Saying a silent prayer for the others he hoped it would bring them some peace but he doubted it would. The only way they would find solace would be when the cult's effort had been completely destroyed. For Met-Anoi'a he wished that day would come soon.
With time to recover Eska's giggles finally subside and she is able focus more on the task at hand. The short rest does little to recover her stamina she feels a hollowness where once she was filled with magical power. She knows she'll have to rely mostly on knife-work for the time being.
Arianna makes her confession and Eska cannot fathom why she's being told these things. She hadn't thought much of what transpired during the battle blinded by rage as she was and if she was in a similar position she'd just lie.
"Three-Dog once told me we all have Names. Not just one. When we're on the job it's best to leave some of our humanity behind so it can live untainted by the shadows of our other life. We are none of us one person. I don't know who you were, I don't know Arianna, I know Twice-Quick. She built my Stormfang; a weapon of the cult turned against itself and when she's afraid even of herself, a piece of her fights with me because I have this. I can't help you with your past, I won't forgive you either. But when you're ready to truly fight beside me know that I'll be waiting. I uhhh just hope you won't be too long I mean I make ALOT of enemies and living does have its perks and all. I really don't wanna go down like some storybook hero."
Thankfully Haliel saves Eska from further conversation. Unfortunately it's comes with it's own bizarre conspiracy to add to the already complicated group dynamic.
Eska is happy enough when James finally finishes his ridiculous short nap in the middle of an enemy base and the team can move on.
Arianna nods and looks up at the dwarf for the first time since he and Met found her.
"I'll try," she promises him, her voice still shaky, but without the despair it had held earlier.
Arianna is surprised at Eska's willingness to just accept her. She doesn't get a chance to express her gratitude until James begins to stir, and even then only has a moment. She gives Eska a tight hug that ends before any bones could crack.
"Sorry for running way like that," she says, sounding a little better than she had.
The party takes a much needed short rest, and they're lucky enough that nothing else that might be deeper into the caves comes to check up on them. Afterwards, they make their way through the fungus garden into a much larger, empty room wherein the fungus trail ends. Their voices echo in here, and the rock formations jutting from the ground and ceiling in the vast chamber cast shadows of various shapes and sizes all over the walls. It's too quiet in here.
It isn't just the rocks casting shadows, though. There's also eight kobolds spread throughout the room, two of them with sinewy wings jutting from their backs. The group looks bored, and it could only be their lack of intelligence that had them not notice any sounds created from Arianna and Haliel's approach...
Haliel & Arianna may act
Arianna slinks up to get a better shot at one of the winged beasts. After loosing her arrow, she calls out to Eska, hit by a moment of inspiration.
"Take heart Eska Stormfang! These are false drakes with delusions of grandeur. Cut them down," she cries, her words woven with a bit of magic.
"Drakes? Where? Lemme up 'ere!" Brax calls out as he brings his battleaxe to bear and starts to move forward toward where Arianna and Eska are.
"Kobolds with wings," Arianna explains, "Two of them with six normal kobolds."
Arianna's arrow zips past the winged kobold and bounces against the cave wall. That, and her subsequent inspirational cry, is all it takes for the entire room to turn towards the party at once.
Of course, being kobolds, they're not exactly quick to decide what to do. Most of the party acts first.
James
Eska (1d6 Inspiration Die)
Met-Anoi'a
Arianna
Winged Kobolds (Purple & Red)
Brax
Haliel
Kobolds!
Arianna abandons the bow and pulls our her sword as she goes for one of the non-winged kobolds. With any luck, she could start work on thinning their numbers.
Her sword flashes in the dim light and sends an arc of blood over the floor as she scores a hit.
Feeling inspired Eska tries to force out more power. Her font of magic exhausted her spell wavers in it its ability to do harm.
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Seeing the black kobold being roughly handled, Haliel makes best speed for the main body of the dragonlings while Power strides boldly forth.
"Doesn't it always seem like there are more kobolds around every year? I thought egg-laying beasts were supposed to reproduce slowly, but these are some kind of combination of rabbits and kudzu," he muses as he sends a bolt of red wrath and green EXTERMINATE at the winged purple one.
Met-Anoi'a hearing the noises of the creatures ahead pushes forward with as much speed as he can running over the rocky floor.
Arianna draws first blood, and first kill, the kobold gurgling over in a bloodied heap, while Eska evokes two beams of crackling, blue energy that tear through the wings of another. James finishes the flying monster off with a well-aimed blast of eldritch magic.
Met-Anoi'a rushes into the fray, while the remaining winged kobold flies over, hovering above the tiefling.
James
Eska
Met-Anoi'a
Arianna
Winged Kobold (Red)
Brax
Haliel
Kobolds!
As Brax runs up, he has only a moment to take in the situation and realizes that the terrain might work to his advantage, being underground. He moves to cut off an avenue of approach to the group and positions himself between a natural rock formation and the cave wall itself.
"Come at me, ya whelps an' get a taste a me blade!" he exclaims, holding up his battleaxe for dramatic effect.
Brax dashes in, daring the army of kobolds to come at him. So they do. All five of them rush the party, their daggers raised overhead. One strikes with purpose, cutting a gash in Arianna's side, while another rushes Brax and tears open a comparatively small wound in his arm.
James & Haliel
Eska
Met-Anoi'a
Arianna (-7)
Winged Kobold (Red)
Brax (-3)
Kobolds!
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James sees that the rest of the group has the kobold's well in hand. And by that he means that Arianna is in way over her head and Brax is charging in headlong. Well that's always worked before....
The flying kobold bothered him. It could descend on any of them...or even bring Death from Above just when they were weakest.
Ground troops they could handle. Air troops were always a pain.
By his command, Haliel flies up to the red flyer and starts being annoying.
"Do yoͫu ǩ̂͊nö̂̉w ̇t̋ͩhe͒ͭrë's͂̆ a deͪ̈bate ̓̄͆a̍̾s̒ͬ ̂to ͧ̒i̔fͩ̾̐ y͊͛̄o͌̑ur̃͗͋ ͐̿ͪȓ̀ac̐ͪ̇ë̀́ i͂s ͒ev̓͗̚è̐ͤn r̆̒̆e͂alľ̒yͬ́ ͮͭͣs̽̽en̆̚ťi͑̓en͂t?̂̇̃ ̐If̈̉ y͋̎̒ouͨ̂ͭȓ ͭrace͐ w̆ent͊ͫ̔ ͬeͭ̅xtinctͯ̌, ̈̈wͫͤòulͪ̇̈́d aǹy p͋ͩȧ͆rͪ̃tͩ̅ oͯfͪ̽ ͫ́͋tͬ̑͗hͧ̈̀e b̈̐iͥ͋osh͛ͦ́p͌ͮ͗er̄e ̎̉̅e͑̓̚veͣ̏n̆͌ͮ nȏ͊t͊ͣͨíc͐e?"
James just nods, as it's a fair point, and then blasts at the thing.
Without having to spread her powers to multiple targets the green-scaled kobold is blasted with a staggering force of lighting.
Blood spatters the ground around Arianna as the kobolds get lucky. She sings out a single word, manaing to undo most of the damage before trying to return the favor.
The kobold's blood joins hers on the floor as she cuts the little beast in twain. and looks at the other one in combat with her, only to see a pile of ash.
"Weren't there two of them," she asks.
An ooze-like ichor erupts from the kobold floating above Met-Anoi'a as James makes it explode from the inside. Arianna and Eska blast and cut down two more kobolds, quickly thinning their ranks.
James & Haliel
Eska
Met-Anoi'a
Arianna (-1)
Brax (-3)
Kobolds!
With his whip in hand Met-Anoi'a unwinds the freshly oiled weapon and snaps it at the face of the closest kobold.
Melee whip
"I've gotten wursz inna barfights!" Brax roars at the kobold that struck him. "I kin take it, but I be showin' ye that I kin dish it out!"
As he speaks, Brax swings for the fences with his battleaxe against the foolish kobold that drew blood.
Met-Anoi'a grabs the menacing scaled creature around his neck, then pulls him in and punches him in the face, knocking him out. Brax taunts the kobold who hit him, but can't quite dish it out, this time.
Only two kobolds remain, and both fumble, striking the stalagmites next to Eska and Brax with an echoing clang...
James & Haliel
Eska
Met-Anoi'a
Arianna (-1)
Brax (-3)
Kobolds!
Eska manages some devastating strikes against her opponent with her short blades.
Arianna goes after the one Brax was fighting, intending to skewer it from behind.
Watching Arianna move to cut down the kobold, Met-Anoi'a judges her swing will miss and lashes out with his whip once again sending it right past Brax's ear.
"Ey now! I has ta take me fun where'st I kin find it!" the dwarf exclaims with a look of chagrin at having missed his target. He swings again, trying to catch the kobold zigging instead of zagging.
Eska and Met-Anoi'a take down the last of the kobolds, and the wide, dark cavern is quiet once more...
From here, a set of steeply descending stairs leads down to the southeast. A spear with a pitted blade lies on the floor near the top of these steps. A short, wider path lit with simple oil lamps continues to the northwest.
Another set of wider ledges descends to the northeast, each ledge dropping about 10 feet. A strong, foul smell hangs in the air from that direction, and viewing the area below from the top ledge, you see what looks like a refuse dump of some sort, yet there are glints of metal as well as parchment below. It's hard to determine exactly what goods may be in the dump without going diving in, of course.
"Seems this place is far less abandoned than it seems." Eska comments then leads the group northward.
"That or they haven't finished clearing out yet," Arianna suggests as she follows Eska.
Eska and Arianna carefully make their way through the path lined with oil lamps... and as Eska traverses the path, the floor below her left foot gives in, revealing a 2-foot deep pit with a large spike in it that skewers up through her heel.
Eska is affected by confusion for 10 rounds.
Seeing the trap sprung, Arianna reaches out and grabs Eska to clap a hand over her mouth and pull her foot off the wicked spike.
"Eska! Don't worry, I'll fix ya up!" Arianna's voice is soft, but earnest, in the other woman's ear.
Eska hisses in pain. "Thanks. Mind your footing there might be more traps ahead.
She will continue onward cautiously.
Eska manages to avoid the worst effects of the trap, and Arianna quickly heals her wounds. The party continues forward a little more cautiously.
They soon come to another ledge with a sharp, 10 foot drop off, with a set of stairs leading down. A stout cage made of iron bars surrounds these steps to a height of 10 feet.
Below are three blue-skinned dragon-like creatures, yet they're wingless and stunted, with a long, muscular build. Accompanying them is a cultist, who stands above an emaciated prisoner tied to a metal loop on the ground.
Observing from above, the party watches as the cultist grabs the prisoner by the head and pours a cup full of blue blood down his throat. "Drink, and become a servant of Tiamat," he chants. Shuddering as the last drop of liquid hits his mouth, the prisoner falls back, and becomes very still. His eyes and mouth remain open, his eyes haphazardly shifting around in their sockets. The rest of his body is completely still.
The cultist takes out a bag that seems to squirm with life, and pulls out a thick, white worm. He leans over, placing the worm on the prisoner, and steps back. Horrifically, the worm skitters across the prisoner's face as if searching. Past his mouth and his nose it squirms, until it gets to his eye and stops, as if sensing something.
The worm twists its body as it burrows deep into the man's eye. The prisoner's mouth is open as his body begins to contort wildly, but it doesn't seem he can scream.
"I'll be a-treadin' lightly," Brax says to Eska as he advances forward through the room.
As the group gets to where they can see this horrific transformation rite below them, Brax looks at the stairs and the iron bars surrounding them.
"Be there a way ta get thru this thing?" he says, as he moves to examine the cage.
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Eska shrugs and looks over to Arianna"Well we came here to make trouble after all. On my Mark."
Eska tosses a orb of acid down at the drakes
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On his way over, James gives Amriel some attention, snapping his fingers...
...just once.
Haliel favors some invisible place on his chest with a smile. "Y̫͔ou̬̮͈r̙͓ ̼focus ͎̟ͅi͕̙̮s͕͎̪ g̱r̲̞ow̩̲in̘̰g͕͔. ̤̭͔ Pe͉͎̼rh̖ap͍s̝ ̫͕̠soon ͇̼I̺̲̲ wil̻̙l ͎̘̼hav͈e a ne͓w ͉̩si̲̩͎s̬̹͉t̤e̥̤̯r̻̭̫."
The warlock and the angel advance cautiously and witness the tail end of the ceremony.
"Yeah, Eska. Let's start something."
His own bolt looses out, aiming for the prisoner. The man is already dead, but perhaps not without honor.
Arianna draws a bow and aims at the cultist. She takes in a deep breath, clearing her mind and focusing on only the target as she'd been twice taught. Once by her mother, and again by Dunviel, the ranger that roamed the region around Redrock, protecting the village for his own private reasons.
Using high ground to their advantage, Eska conjures a swath of acid down at the drakes, while James fires a blast at the prisoner, immediately killing him (or perhaps saving him). The drakes raise their snouts to the ceiling, howling loud enough that the sound carries deep into the caves.
"What the? Who are you people?!" The cultist screams, clearly angry that you'd interrupted his precious ritual.
Eska
Brax
James
Met-Anoi'a
???
Arianna
Cultist (-8)
Drakes (Green -1, Yellow -1)
Eska hurls another orb of acid into the crowd below them. Then backs up in case the drakes start to climb up.