As Talienda backs away from Ebin, she kicks her other shoe at him and draws another rune in the air. She doesn't have time to think about how close she came to hurting Talib. She sees the rotting teeth, the black blood oozing from where Ebin's tongue had been, and where his veins were now filled with the same foul blood. She wants it gone, blotted from the face of Golarion! Another spark of arcane power lights the rune ablaze and the room again echoes with thunder.
Talib continues slashing uselessly at the inexplicably hard-to-hit Ebin, and moves to stand back to back with Sinésiel.
Knowing that the magic of her song is ending Rissi stops her attacking and calls out another battle chant, infusing it with Bardic power.
Amidst Rissi's chant, Sinésiel lashes back at the corrupted Halgrak who grabs her hand mid-swing and stops the blade from ever approaching him. Skurly is luckier but not by much, hitting the half-orc on the calf.
Meanwhile, Talib tries to reposition and attack, but the flailing Ebin is far too agile for him. The same cannot be said about Talienda's magic, as her energy bolt finally hits the gnome squarely in the chest.
It is clear by now that some sort of curse has been cast over this battle, as Ebin drops his tongue on the ground and Halgrak bites and claws ineptly at Sinésiel's armour.
The inquisitor takes a deep breath to centre himself amidst the chaos, reminding himself of his role as a servant of order, and directs all his frustration into steely focus. Once more, he raises his falchion, feinting left of the jester before flipping the blade into a thrusting rightward lunge at the last second.
Seeing Talib has Ebin well in hand now, Talienda turns and sends a bolt at Halgrak.
THe bolt hits the half-orc squarely, but whether it is because of her kind heart or because of her flagging energy, there's not much power behind the blast. The lightning that had been dancing around Talienda as she cast her spells begins to flicker and fade as her breathing grows more heavy and labored.
Talib's feint is successful and Ebin barely has time to one last gargle before the blade brutally detaches his head out of his body.
Sinésiel takes a cue from Talib and feints to Halgrak's left side, managing to hit him on the leg. The half-orc stumbles backwards and screams in pain as Skurly's bolt pierces his stomach. Mumbling and stuttering, Halgrak falls with his back against the wall, breathing with difficulty.
Talienda whirls to face Halgrak, lightning dancing all around her. Her face is twisted into a snarl as she readies her spell.
Then she sees Halgrak still breathing.
She stops, surprise writ all over her face as she stumbles a few steps back. The lightning disappears, flickering out like a dying candle. She looks down at her hands and then back up to Halgrak as she realizes what she'd almost done in her fit of anger. Horror and shame in equal parts fills her as she turns and runs out the doors.
She doesn't go far from the doors, just to the corner on the other side of the spiral staircase. She curls up into a ball on the floor and cries. She'd almost killed someone. She'd almost killed Halgrak. That isn't how she is supposed to act. That isn't her! That anger, that rage, that isn't her!
Or is it?
The thought sends a shiver down her spine. If she is capable of murdering someone, then doesn't that make her just as bad as Malgrim or the others that sentenced an innocent man to die? Is it in her nature? Is it because of her father? Was he capable of what he'd been accused of?
The questions swirl around without answers. She feels them walling her off. Paranoia sets in as she begins to wonder if her powers come from being a monster. They only seem capable of hurting others, with a few scant abilities that are not meant to kill or maim.
Maybe whatever brought her here hadn't picked her just because her father sat on the jury. Maybe it was trying to protect other people from her.
The thought is not a comforting one.
Lifting her bow up to fire again Rissi realizes the enemy has been dispatched. She carefully relaxes the arrow from the drawn string and places it back in the quiver, glancing around the room. "We can't keep fighting like this! Our resources will be depleted and we'll start falling. What caused their madness?"
Talib breathes out, sparing a lingering glance of regret at the decapitated Ebin. Whether it was necessary or not, even unavoidable in the grander scheme of things, it brought him no pleasure to slay the deranged gnome—quite to the contrary, the bitter sting of failure felt akin to lash across his soul. He had sworn to deliver everyone out of the courthouse alive, and with every death, he felt increasingly like a fabulist, alienated from the reality of their situation.
"Sinésiel, go see to Talienda," he says, a bit of bitterness dripping into his tone. "No one should be running off alone, if possible."
The inquisitor walks over to Halgrak, keeping his sword at the ready.
"What came over you?" he asks, as much to the room at large as the half-orc himself.
Halgrak looks at Talib with pupiless eyes, half of his body bleeding from the wounds inflicted by Sinésiel, Rissi and Skurly whilst the other half is rotting away in a clearly unnatural speed. Feverishly, he grabs the inquisitor's hand. "Daddy loves you, Tazina…your hands…so hard, I'm sorry…"
Rissi frowns in frustration: whatever has caused the two men to go insane has left no traces of energies that she can detect.
Amidst her confusion and paranoia, eyes closed with tears falling down, Talienda hears an angry whisper. 'Crimelord's daughter, spare us your tears and avenge us. The guilty must hang by dawn.' When she opens her eyes, the only thing she sees is Sinésiel slowly walking towards her.
Talienda's head snaps up suddenly. It's clear to see she's been crying as she looks round, her hair falling into further disarray. She spots Sinésiel and stumbles to her feet, slipping on the stonework as her stockinged feet fail to gain traction. She gets her feet under her and she rushes forward, crying and terrified by what is going one. She grabs the half-elf and lean against her as she tries to explain, but her face only twists into an expression of pain and guilt before she buries her head into Sinésiel's shoulder and begins to bawl.
"I tried to kill him! I didn't even hesitate," she sobs after a moment, "I tried to kill Halgrak!"
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
Talib squeezes Halgrak's hand lightly, shaking his head. "No, I am sorry. The system has failed you—but by Abadar, you will be absolved."
"I would suggest looking the other way," he says to Skruly and Rissi, raising his falchion.
Once the half-orc has passed, the inquisitor does his best to dismember the bodies and locks them away in the cubicled office, blockading the door with furniture. He says a short prayer to both Abadar and Pharasma, asking them to forestall any further obstacles on the path towards balance and justice.
Feeling drained past her limit, Sinésiel begins to cry as well as the younger woman clutches her. She hugs Tali back and, keeping her voice fairly even, speaks soft and slow. "Our captor and this place are determined to take everything they can from us," she says, a rising malice tainting her soft tone with pangs of guilt. "You could have killed Halgrak and you didn't. You stayed your own hand, Tali. No one else could have done that for you. What we do here in this accursed place we do to survive."
After a few moments holding Tali while she cries, Siné attempts to lift the younger woman's chin and wipe her tears. "We should go back," she says softly, motioning with her head to the room they'd left. "Splitting up here is more dangerous than we can afford."
Rissi takes Skurly away to distract the halfling from Talib's grim task. They come back and proceed to the only unexplored exit from this floor.
The group climbs a ladder and opens a bolted hatch. A sickly cold wind blows through this open-air tower, feebly swaying the rust-covered bell. The sight of the world outside the courthouse should have been a blessing, a breath of fresh air after the stale and humid air of rotting abominations; it isn't. To the south, there is a cliff on which a few sagging inns and shops desperately cling to the edge of the muddy rock that moves inexorably towards the sea. To the west, a grand structure is overgrown with a tangle of wild, twisted trees and rank blankets of pulsating mould. And to the north broken sewage pipes erupt from the earth like broken bones poking through an infected wound. The sea churns in the distance and one lonesome gull cries against the night.
Talienda just nods, too drained to speak as she and Siné rejoin the others and she gathers her slippers to put back on. She keeps from looking at the corpses of Ebin and Halgrak while a chill begins to numb her fingers. She grabs the split seam of her skirts, trying to keep the wind from exposing more of her leg. looking around the belfry, she suddenly has a sickly feeling in her stomach to match the clammy breeze whistling through.
"Wh-where are the others? S-surely they didn't go back down the stairs," she asks.
Once the deed is done Rissi shakes her head at the failure to detect anything. "Isn't magic. Possibly poison or disease, or some sort of a haunt. I just don't have the expertise...." She follows the group into the next room. Disappointed by the sights, sounds and smells she returns to the door.
Wondering what could have happened to the others, Talienda takes a look around.
Following the others, Sinésiel realizes just how lethargic she's feeling and drinks one of her potions of cure light wounds.
Better already, she thinks, thinking of the many nights her mother would stay up performing such magical feats on Absalom's poor and weary. The worries of whether or not she could live up to that legacy have started to slip from her mind since getting trapped in this horrid place, though when it came to keeping her and her companions alive was the time it always stuck in her mind.
"I'd say we should try to find a way to try and slide on down," she says, looking out at the dilapidated scenery. "But something tells me whatever wants to keep us here isn't going to let that happen.
Breaking from her morose musings, she takes a look about the belfry.
"I'd say we should try to find a way to try and slide on down," she says, looking out at the dilapidated scenery. "But something tells me whatever wants to keep us here isn't going to let that happen.
"I doubt it will be that easy," Talib says darkly. "We cannot evacuate quite yet, regardless, but it is prudent to secure an escape route..."
Upon taking a look from the window, Sinésiel is pretty sure that sliding in this case would be more akin to falling quite a few metres. From there they would reach the roof of the courthouse, which does not look particularly sturdy or reliable.
Meanwhile, Talib and Talienda fail to see anything of note. It does not seem as if anyone has been here in the past few years and if there ever was anything here besides the bell, it has long been washed away by rain, wind and flying animals. Amidst the smell of the sea, however, the inquisitor gets a faint whiff of a now-familiar odour: putrefaction. It is hard to say whether it comes from outside, inside or even from the stairs, but he's sure of it.
"B-back down we go," Talienda asks.
"B-back down we go," Talienda asks.
"Yes," Talib says with a stiff nod, supressing a sigh, "but be careful. Notice that smell? There may be more undead nearby..."
The inquisitor raises his sword and moves for the stairs. "I will head down first. Sinésiel, watch the back."
Talienda nods, the motion jerky and unsteady. She draws her dagger, but pauses just before she goes down the stairs.
"T-talib? Do you think I..." Her voice trails off with a shrug as she holds the dagger up as if asking if she should have it out.
"Can do," Sinésiel says, drawing her weapon once again and taking position at the back of the group. "It'll be alright, lets just make sure to stick close together." Patting Tali on the shoulder she gives the best smile she can muster given the circumstances.
Talib comes down first, followed closely by Talienda, Rissi and Skurly. Just as Sinésiel is about to crouch and start descending the ladder, a human-sized aberration that looks like a cross between a large bat and a giant mosquito enters the room flying, knocking the half-elf away from the hatch, then closing it with one of its eight feet. Its wings are leathery and gray and its skin is drawn tight across its bones, especially around its long, needle-like snout.
1. Talienda
2. Talib
3. Skurly
4. Rissi
5. Monster
6. Sinésiel
Skurly yelps with the loud clank of the hatch being violently closed, but not before the stench of carrion reaches those below.
"SINÉ!" Talienda screams as she spins around and sees the hatch closed. Knowing that stronger folk than her would be needed to open the hatch, she flattens against the wall of the stairs to let Talib past.
Rissi stares at the creature trying to figure out what it is so she can warn the others, then sings out a battle cry.
Talib shoulders his way back to the hatch, trying to push against whatever is weighing it down. "Hold on!"
Whilst Rissi begins her war chant, Talib tries to force the hatch open. Unfortunately, the creature standing on top of it is much heavier than expected and the metal slab does not move at all.
The creature grabs a still disoriented Sinésiel with four of its claws and burrows its needle snout deep into her chest. A transparent liquid seeps out of it and the whole area goes numb, though the effect, at least for now, seems restricted to that part of her body.
Staggered by the attack from the creature that she is trapped with and concerned about the numbness in her chest, the only thing she can think to do is drink a potion to help with the wound she has taken and hope Talib can break through soon.
Feeling invigorated by the potion, she stands ready with her weapon. "I'm alright so far!" she yells to her friends below. "But I'm out of potions and I'm not sure I can kill this thing alone!"
Talib continues to strain uselessly against the hatch. He then turns to the others, wiping sweat from his brow. "I think we need to break through..."
Sinésiel takes a step back, feeling the rush of positive energy rushing through her veins and healing her wounds.
Whilst Talib once again fails to force the hatch open, Skurly, Talienda and Rissi can only stare in horror and powerlessness.
There is a noticeable clank when the creature in front of Sinésiel moves out of the hatch and lunges at the half-elf, this time puncturing her arm with a less grievous wound. Her limb goes limp for a second, but Sinésiel fights the paralysis away, not ready to leave herself completely vulnerable to the beast.
Unable to even see an enemy Rissi stays out of the way and readies her bow just in case the hatch gets opened.
Talienda waits for a moment ot unleash her spell at any foe that presents itself while doing as Rissi is and staying out of the way of those that could actually open the hatch.
Hearing the weight lift off the hatch, Talib throws himself against it once more.
Seeing, whatever it was, Talienda quickly draws another rune in the air. It flickers for a moment before a bolt of lightning arcs up and around to smack the bug trying to turn Siné into a snack.
Sinésiel takes a step back, trying to both focus on defense and luring the monster further away from the hatch.
Talib seizes the opportunity and springs into action, deftly climb out of the ladder just in time to strike the creature he identifies as a ghoul-stirge: an undead horror that paralyses its victims to suck on their blood. It hisses in anger and tries to snap back at the inquisitor in an awkward move that Talib easily deflects.
Talienda and Rissi, meanwhile, fail to get enough of a view of the ghoul-stirge to attempt to harm it.
Talienda moves up the stairs trying to get a better view of their opponent. Once she sees it, she stops and fires off her spell.
Talib keeps hacking at the creature, not letting it regain its advantage.
"You will be rectified!" he barks, each word accentuated by another slash of his sword.
"Gods you're a lifesaver, Talib!" Sinésiel exclaims before stepping back forward with her scimitar and taking a swing at the ghoul-stirge.
Unfortunately the numbness in her arm gets the better of her, and her swing goes wild. Damn beast is gonna make me useless!
Seeing itself suddenly outnumbered, flanked and badly wounded, the monster stretches its wings, drops from the belfry's parapet and flies away, but not before receiving yet another grievous sequence of blows from Talib's falchion.
Talienda rushes up the stairs and hugs Siné after seeing that the fight was over. She tries to clean up the blood and worse from Siné's clothing, like she'd seen Rissi do, but it takes her a few tries before she manages it, and even then it's a little slow.
"Sorry, but I can't do anything about the wounds," she says after doing her best to clean and patch up the Sarenrite's clothing.
Rissi follows into the room after those that rush in to fight. Seeing the creature gone she moves up to check those that fought it. "I have one minor healing spell left for today if needed. It will help to close a wound, but if the creature did other damage, disease and such, it won't help there. Where should I cast it?"
Siné hugs Talienda close and, after she finishes getting tended to, pats the sorceress on the head. "Thanks, Tali," she says with a smile. She turns to Rissi, and after a brief moment of contemplation responds. "I don't think I'm sick, though I guess only time will tell. Every time that thing stabbed me I felt numb. As for healing, I think I'll be alright for now."
Last, she looks to Talib and gives an appreciative nod. "Thanks for saving me. Again. I'll do my best to return the favor, though I hope we're nearly done with things trying to kill us for the day."
At Skurly's request, the group decides to take a short break to both rest and discuss their next steps. They move back to the barrister's lounge and find spots as comfortable as possible amidst the gloom and doom of the haunted house. Sinésiel spares a prayer to her mother, in hopes it will give them some safety.
"Cast it on Siné. I stay towards the back and out of the way. She's hurt worse than I am," Talienda says. In truth, she aches from the one blow she took, and she has little idea of how Siné isn't crying from the pain.
When they stop to rest, she's grateful. This night was wearing on her and her newfound abilities were sapping her stamina. She sits next Siné, intending to keep an eye on her, only to nod off and rest her head against the other woman's shoulder.
Last, she looks to Talib and gives an appreciative nod. "Thanks for saving me. Again. I'll do my best to return the favor, though I hope we're nearly done with things trying to kill us for the day."
"At least there is someone left I can save," Talib mutters, with a hint of bitterness creeping into his tone. "Best we vacate the belfry."
As the group pauses for a bit of respite, Talib scours the decrepit lounge for a clean rug—or lacking that, any piece of fabric that is not freshly spattered with blood and putrid viscera. The inquisitor kneels, placing his falchion on his lap. He spends a moment breathing slowly, eyes closed, focusing intently on the varied clues and pieces of evidence he has gathered. He meditates on the suspects, and their connections and possible motives. Then, with all that pictured clearly in his mind's eye, he prays:
"Hear your loyal bailiff, O Judge of the Gods! This is a place of law—a sacred place. Even when tarnished by misdeeds, it is your domain. You hold in your Vault the perfect deduction, the perfect judgment. Lend us a fraction of that perpetual perfection, and we shall repay you with righteous rectitude."
While he does not demand anyone join him, Talib makes no attempt to hide his show of devotion.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
While Sinésiel certainly knew plenty about the Master of the First Vault, she wasn't entirely all that understanding of his faithful. She'd grown up being taught to help the poor and destitute of Absalom, and the "never give handouts" mentality of the faith had always seemed heartless. However, even though her and Talib hadn't exactly shared too many personal details, the man was making her realize that maybe her first impressions lacked nuance. While she did not join him directly, she bows her head, closes her eyes and whispers a phrase after he finishes his prayer.
"So it is judged."
The brief respite is nice, and Sinésiel can't help but smile as Talienda dozes off on her shoulder. She draws her silver holy symbol and cradles it in both hands. So foolish to think the Dawnflower would choose a naive child as a representative, she thinks, her smile for Talienda's warmth becoming wan. Too bad for Her, though. What my mother healed I will prevent with my shield. What my instincts fail I will study. I will earn Her blessing with my blood, sweat and tears. Resolved to protect the others, Sinésiel grasps the symbol tight. Images of her mother's embrace tug at the corners of Siné's mind, and she feels a new bond with the silver implement.
Vigor renewed, Siné takes a hand off the symbol and runs her fingers through Tali's hair to try and softly wake her. "The Dawn Brings New Light," she whispers. "All we need do is emerge back into the world to see it."