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Ruka swallows hard as Kikonu admits to killing Rokuro. That was...upsetting, but not particularly surprising. What has her significantly more disturbed is Kikonu's claim that he had nothing to do with what happened to Ameiko.
It's what she's been holding onto this whole time. That they would find whoever was responsible and make them fix it. But if Kikonu didn't cause her sudden collapse, if he's telling the truth about not even knowing the Kaijitsu's still lived...then what next? Who else could have possibly done it?
They'd come to Brinewall looking for answers, and all she had was more questions. That wasn't even counting everything else he was spouting. Five Storms? Amatatsu?
She leans very slightly into Kajiwara's hand on her shoulder. It's strangely comforting.
"I don't know who the Amatatsus are. But a Kaijitsu is standing right in front of you. So if you were trying to eradicate our line...you failed." She stands, although she still leaves Murasamemaru against his neck.
"You already confessed to knowing nothing about Ameiko, and whatever other answers you may have do not outweigh your crimes. However, you were mostly cooperative. Thank you." Her voice is oddly formal. "As repayment, I will give you a swift death."
She swings.
Eyes wide and Kikonu exclaims loudly "Impossible! You-". These are the last words of the oni before its head is removed from its body, dropping on the ground between Ruka and Asuka's feet, disappearing him once and for all.
No more reappearing.
Searching his body, you find a small leather pouch at his side containing several vials of ink, five shiny pearls worth 100 gp each, and a darkwood-and-silver disc decorated with an intricate etching of Brinewall under the noonday sun.
On the ground nearby lay the oni's masterfully crated kusarigama with the words Dancing Wasp etched on the lower part of one side of the blades.
Asuka's bright energy dissipates as Ruka speaks to Kikonu. She closes her eyes out of respect, not for Kikonu, but for Ruka. Ruka is going through all this intense emotion and Asuka the bird-brained is just sitting here talking about power-themes and cool names like an absolute fool. Asuka may not always be the fastest to realize what's going on, but once she does, she wants to be on the frontlines to help as much as she can.
She waits for the scene to settle before placing a tentative talon on Ruka's shoulder. "I wish it didn't have to come to that, and I think you probably feel the same. You made the right call. I bet you anything that your ancestors are proudly looking upon right now, having finally defeated him." Asuka picks up the disc and absent-mindedly bites it as though testing a coin. "I--er, that is, we--will make sure you and your family is kept safe if more of these Five Storms people are still around and alive."
Like an official governing a public execution, his headsman at his side - this was how young Sam felt standing over the now kneeling oni with his acid vial, and he didn't particularly like the feeling. The role of headsman was of course played by Ruka, whom he let speak to the condemned uninterrupted. She was, after all, not just the executioner, but also the injured party. This was her show; he was, as always, merely a supporting actor.
Which suited him just fine, uncomfortable as he was with the proceedings despite firmly believing - nay, knowing - that the death of the fiend was nothing if not a net good for the world at large. And if the woman got some small peace in dispatching him, so much the better. The wizard was just happy to help. It was with this mindset that he merely looked to Ruka, his simple face solemn and frank, silently voicing 'Ready when you are'. When the moment came, they acted in tandem. Even as she raised her sword, the flask held in the outstretched hand lit up like a lantern and a toxic-green light flashed from it, projecting onto the waiting oni. A groan escaped it as the glare manifested into droplets of acidic vapor, scouring its fiendish hide. It was done. Its regenerative capabilities were null and void, for now. Sam dropped his hand. And with it the blade followed. He closed his eyes.
Well. Being part of an execution was not what the village boy had anticipated in leaving Sandpoint for his grand adventure. Still, he had few regrets in doing so. If anyone could be said to deserve death, always a slippery slope of moral absolutes as his masters had taught him, it was a mass-murdering fiend. This was what he hoped he managed to communicate to the younger Kaijitsu in simply nodding to her as they all stood over the now very dead Kikonu. He didn't even bother actually saying anything. He knew he'd just mess it up.
But the adroit mind inside the quiet youth was far from silent. Oh, no - it was furiously trying to piece together whatever the heck the oni had been on about. So something called the Five Storms had tried to wholesale eradicate the entire Kaijitsu family - who may or may not also be known as the Amatatsu (whatever that means)? This was getting complicated, not to mention very strange. This in turn was perhaps why the overworked intellect latched onto what was more familiar and comforting to it: magic.
"Uhm," Samton started before coughing to clear his throat in picking up the deceased's sickle-like weapon. "This thing - is this was they call a kusarigama? - it's enchanted if anyone knows how to use it. Sturdier and more accurate than a normal one of its kind." He looked to Kajiwara, ostensibly his language teacher. "Kusarigama. Am I pronouncing that right?"
The wooden disk, however; that was considerably more intriguing in its unfamiliarity. A transmutation aura. His specialty. "Uh, the, uh," he said hesitatingly in watching Asuka chew on it. "The disk is magic too, though I'm not sure what it's for."
Kajiwara says nothing about the execution - he knew Ruka would need time to come to terms with having executed Kikonu, and that she would reach out if she needed to. Until then, he did not want to rub her face in having done so or provide sympathy where none was wanted. Understanding how people were feeling wasn't difficult for him - providing comfort, however, was more of a struggle. His family had been very formal, and public displays of affection were frowned upon.
Answering Sam's question, he says, "You are pronouncing it correctly. The kusarigama is a versatile weapon - the kama can be used for tripping your foes in addition to its cutting edge, while the weight on the other end can be used to bludgeon enemies or entangle their weapons with the chain to allow you to get in close and attack with the kama. The ten foot chain allows you to get quite a bit of momentum behind that weight. It is difficult to use, however, and even more difficult to truly master."
Looking at Asuka bite the disc, Kajiwara prepares to move in case it activates, before he says to Sam, "If you study the disc, do you think you could figure out what it does?"
"Funny-looking weapon." Lor-Sinn looks at the kusu-thing dubiously as Kajiwara explains its function, then stows Zaiobe's bow and stretches mightily, arms over head.
"Whew. Five Storms, huh? I don't pretend to understand what all he was babbling about, but... what now?"
Ruka stares down at the corpse for a moment, face impassive, then deliberately turns away and begins cleaning Murasamemaru. Once finished, she carefully resheathes the sword.
She doesn't want to talk about the execution, not right now, and so she sends Sam a grateful look as he changes the topic. "It's not a weapon I've ever seen before. I suppose we'll just hang onto it for now? Same with the disc, until we can figure out what it's for." She doesn't touch the pearls or the ink, (although she won't stop someone else from taking them). It feels too much like grave-robbing.
"What now," she echoes Lor-Sinn. "I thought...I thought he would know what happened to Ameiko. But he didn't and now...I don't know." She bites her lip. "The third vault. That's what Ameiko said. Kikonu mentioned vaults too, so...maybe that's where we need to go. We haven't checked out those doors to the southeast yet. Maybe that's where the vaults are."
Before they leave the room, she pauses briefly to down a potion. Kikonu may be dead, but there's no telling what else might be down here. She can't afford to have the wound on her chest distracting her.
Asuka looks over the disc, wiping it off to make sure she didn't damage it. "Oh! Vaults. That must have something useful and important." She then holds up the disc, almost jumping in place. "Oh! Oh! Maybe this is like a key? Vaults have keys. And it'd make sense for him to have it if he was protecting something in it."
"Oooh, I like that! This one has the sun at noon, maybe the other two have sunrise and sunset!" Lor-Sinn seems excited by this potential narrative structure.
Asuka excitedly shakes her head "yes!" "Ooh, that's good! I like that. You have a good mind for stories, Lor-Sinn! Have you ever tried your hand at writing?"
The door on the right leads to a staircase that ascends back to the ground floor and hte door on the left opens no a narrow corridor with two more doors. Opening both of these doors leads you an abandoned armory and an arena where more stinky troglodytes await you.
Most of the weapons stored in the armory are gone, but a few items remain here, including a suit of half-plate armor, a masterwork heavy steel shield, four heavy crossbows, 40 crossbow bolts, and a case containing 10 flasks of alchemist’s fire.
The troglodytes pose no real threat to you as you have previous demonstrated and you dispatch them without anything more than an upset stomach. Once the lizards are down, you find one of them was wielding a magical morningstar and held two potions of cure light wounds .
With this wing cleared, you move back to the large room with pillars and choose to pursue the double doors leading southeast. Inside is a pool of dark water that lies in the center of this domed room, surrounded by four stone pillars. You surmise that this is likely the castle's primary water supply.
The only exit from this room is another set of double doors to the east. Pushing them open reveals a sight you were not anticipating. Not quite a torture chamber, this dungeon features three cells made of iron bars—one to the north and two to the south. A filthy, nest-like bed lies in the middle of the room, heaped around a central stone pillar next to what can only be a half-eaten giant centipede the size of a horse.
The source of the bite marks was obvious - the room was also home to a massive ogre, and there was a disheveled woman with torn clothing who looked like she's seen better days locked in one of the cages. Stripped of all of her possessions other than the clothes on her back, a fiddle rests in her lap and the large giant is talking to her when you enter. "I git you fittle back, you play me song now!" it says in broken Taldane.
The ogre blinked as you entered, turning to face ou. "You’s not allowed in here. ’Cept if you’re here to be going in a cage? You want in cage? I put you in cage." he states, snatching up his greatclub and turning to face you.
The dishevelled woman sitting in the cage bounces gracefully up to her feet with ease, her beautifully carved wooden fiddle so swiftly in hand as if it were naturally a part of her.
As the woman stands, her height is the first thing that is immediately noticeable. She stands taller than most women (5"9), even without her shoes, which are sitting discarded on the floor in the corner of the cage. Her long, wild blonde hair makes her dishevelled appearance more startling, with just two thin braids keeping it from her face, it is clear that she hasn't given it much love for at least a couple of days, maybe more.
She laughs heartily at the intrusion of the group in front of her.
"What timing? You might have just found your lucky day! Here, I'll play for you, let's see if you like it? You know I always love a musical critique." She says, with a lilting accent and sly smile.
Bringing her fiddle to her chin with care, she quickly strikes up a fast-paced Ulfen folk-tune that sounds as if it is a natural extension of her lilting sing-song voice.
Asuka is quite pleased at the sight not only of a potential ally, but a strikingly attactive one at that. She puffs up her chest and raises her sword high. "Never fear! Asuka Narukami, known far and wide as the Thunder-God, is here! I will strike down this brute with the speed and power of a True Hero."
Asuka stares down the ogre, then rushes into the room before it can react. She spins her sword behind her back, slashing wide across the ogre's midline. "Tornado Slice!"
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Alchemist's Fire. Neat! The young man really should know better, but boyish excitement superseded sense in this instance as he studied one of the hefty flasks the group had just come across in walking. His masters would be very disappointed in him should he trip over an errant rock and blow himself up. Though possessing no real expertise in the field, Sam found all things alchemical fascinating, strange off-branch of the arcane as they were. He wondered if he could ever...
"LOUD OGRE NONSESNE!"
Nope, that would have to wait. The towering mass of muscle and pale flesh rather demanded their attention. And the ogre was pretty concerning too. Samton stopped in his tracks, nearly dropping the fire bomb, as the party wandered headfirst into what appeared to be some sort of jail cell housing an unusual pair. 'Our' lucky day? his spooked mind nevertheless managed to wonder at the apparent prisoner's words. Lady, you're the one in the cage.
But faced with a giant who apparently intended to put them all in said cage - sure to be an uncomfortable fit - he simply looked to the flask, gave a shrug, and chucked the darn thing.
The fiery explosion that followed lit up the dungeon chamber in every shade of red and orange. Large as he was, the ogre made for a big pyre too. Had it been his imagination, or had Sam seen the projectile... carried slightly through the air before smashing onto the giant, as if buoyed by the strange woman's song? Weird. Pretty good song, though.
Ruka is grimly quiet as they dispatch yet more troglodytes and search the rooms. Still no sign of any vaults, not that they've gone far.
Upon entering the dungeon though, she blinks in surprise at the woman in the cell. When she stands and begins playing her fiddle, something in Ruka's heart clenches.
It's not the same tune, not the same instrument, but the attitude is so very Ameiko.
For a second she just stares dumbly, then an explosion of fire reminds her that yes, they are actually fighting something right now. Once again a vague shadow resembling Asuka appears behind the ogre as she shakes off the momentary distraction and rushes in from the front.
Lor-Sinn wonders if the armory is technically a vault or not, and is occupied with such considerations as they enter the room with the cages in it. The first thought is that they must rescue what is obviously a fair maiden imprisoned by the brutish ogre, then... music? Well, alright. It is a rather catchy tune, and the tiefling finds themselves humming along as they loose an arrow at the lumbering ogre.
Though a guardian of the prison cells he may be, he surely was never much of a warrior. Slugwort, as Signe knows him, falls to his knees, dropping his mighty club before it could even be swung. Collapsing on the floor with a tremendous THUD, a cloud of dust whips forward into the party's face as his body comes to rest. Samton's fire continues to burn the creature, filling the room with the smell of burning flesh.
Searching the room will reveal Signe's possessions in a bag in the corner. It's clear the ogre has helped himself to them, repeatedly. The key to cell holding the prisoner is located on the ground near the bag.
The unusual minstrel finishes off her piece with flair and then lowers her fiddle.
"Oh, he clearly thought the performance was a bore if he deigns to sleep right now!" She says, with a short laugh.
Leaning against the bar of her cage, she the Ulfen woman takes a close look at the group in front of her, eyeing them up and down. "So, we have a Thunder-God. Who exactly are the rest of you, and why are you here? If you wouldn't mind letting me out of this cage with that key, I would be much obliged." She says, nodding at the key on the ground.
Asuka snatches the key up and—with an excessive twirl—opens the lock, throwing the gate open as a magician’s assistant might before an audience. She then sheathes her sword and places her fists on her hips. ”We are heroes! Driven by a quest of the most life-and-death import, we strive into the ruined past so that one dear to us might not have a ruined future. Secrets are unburied as we bury those that keep them, and old answers lead to new questions.” Asuka relaxes and grins, quite proud of herself. ”How’s that for a back jacket! That’s what I’ve got so far, but I can’t finish writing it until I finish living it! That’s just basic rules of writing.”
She then kneels next to the ogre and pats him gently. ”Don’t worry, buddy. You’re gonna get a whole character profile and backstory in the book to accompany the chapter(s) involving fighting you. Sorry it had to go down like this, but you’re gonna be in art! Literature, to be exact. Do ogres like art? I hope so.”
She looks back to the Ulfen woman. ”Oh yeah, I’m writing a book. Or books. Probably books. Did I say that?” She pauses and begins making herself go through the list of things you are supposed to say/ask when meeting someone. Too much adrenaline and meeting an attractive, stylish lady has rendered the already excitable and whimsical Asuka into a rapid burst of energy. ”Oh yeah! What’s your name?”
"Uh, I don't think he's sleeping..." Lor-Sinn corrects the Ulfen woman as the tiefling stands over the fallen jailor gazing over the deep sword wounds and the flames still licking the corpse. "I hope he wasn't your friend or anything."
Only a pair of small horns poking through the copper-coloured hair and the lashing tail betray Lor-Sinn's fiendish heritage. The paladin is tall, wearing scale mail over simple traveler's clothes. They hold a beautiful composite longbow, with a longsword sheathed on their left hip and a carved symbol of Erastil hanging from a leather cord at their belt.
"Well, Thunder-God, if he doesn't much like my music, he absolutely is not the kind to appreciate art and literature." Signe replies with a quizzically raised eyebrow, trying to take in the unique Tengu in front of her.
Puffing up her chest slightly, she takes in a deep breath and gesticulates as she introduces herself. "I am Signe Valland, Tale-Keeper of the Lightning Bear tribe, Enchanter of Men and Composer of Epics in music form." The Ulfen woman replies with confidence, particularly directing this to the Tengu in front of her, not to be out-done in the theatrical stakes.
Turning to the tiefling, she shakes her head ever so slightly.
"This here is Slugwort, Heard of Heart and Jailor of Innocent Maidens. He is none too wise."
She walks over to her bag to reclaim her belongings, checking to see if all is present and correct and her tone changes back to her previous conversational speech, losing the dramatics. "Thank you for rescuing me - all of you. I suppose I am now in your debt. Please, may I have the names of my liberators?"
Ruka frowns slightly, (not that it's all that distinguishable from her normal expression), when Asuka immediately jumps forward to free the woman. Not that she has any intention of leaving an innocent in the cell, but they don't yet have any idea who this woman is or why she's there. The fact that she's imprisoned doesn't necessarily mean she's good; not all the denizens of this castle seem to get along. For all they know she's some sort of shapeshifting monstrosity out to trick them.
Oh well. What's done is done. "Ruka," she answers simply. "May I ask what you're doing in this castle?" She cleans Murasamemaru while she talks, but doesn't sheathe them. Not yet.
"I was foolish enough to be taken prisoner alas. I was merely accompanying an expedition, to provide some quality entertainment. It paid well, but clearly I'm not going to get paid now. Its been a month, maybe two since I've been locked up here, regularly being paraded out to perform for him." Fine lines appear on her forehead as she narrows her eyes in annoyance.
Thinking back, Ruka recalls seeing a broken and destroyed longship outside of castle in the port docks.
"If by 'him' you mean Kikonu, he's dead. I executed him." Ruka's voice remains relatively emotionless, despite the weight of the word 'executed.'
She considers the newcomer for a moment. Her story seems plausible enough, given the destroyed longship, and Kikonu had shown a passion for performances. It made sense he would have kept such a talented bard alive.
It's good enough to extend a small measure of trust. "My...a friend of ours fell ill when we approached this castle. In her delirium she spoke of a 'third vault.' The illness seems to be magical rather than natural, so we're hoping this 'third vault' might hold some answers." She finally sheathes Murasamemaru, focusing intently on Signe. "I don't suppose you heard Kikonu say anything about where these vaults might be?" As an afterthought, she adds, "If you want to stick with us while we look, I have no objections. If you want to run away, we've cleared out most of the monsters. Just follow the blood and everything will probably already be dead."
She's vaguely aware that's not at all reassuring, but doesn't have the emotional energy to care.
Signe looks around at the group, sizing them up again, trying to make up her mind, then nods slightly to herself.
"I will join you. Looks like you need my help and I have little else to occupy me momentarily." Signe says with her mind set.
"I've heard of these vaults whilst up top. Kikonu was in a rage as he never found the true vault. He was talking about keys and said he only had one. That seemed to be an issue."
"Thank you for rescuing me - all of you. I suppose I am now in your debt. Please, may I have the names of my liberators?"
Huh. We have the same initials.
The young wizard's able intellect leapt at this as well as a dozen other innocuous details about the Ulfen woman, major and small, assessing her faster than his conscious mind allowed. While not inclined to immediately trust a perfect stranger, much like Ruka - especially not one found in a castle evidently occupied by every flavor of ghost and ghoulie known to man - he was an unfailingly polite creature. Masters Parooh and Gandethus had raised their ward right. Besides, he rather doubted she was some manner of predatory faceless stalker or something, like the one the group had tangled with back in Brinestump Marsh. Locking a weaponless shapechanger up hoping for a band of heroes to wander down into the dungeons, freeing it, and then allying with it? That'd be a needlessly convoluted scheme.For these reasons and more Samton gave the bard a deferential, albeit awkward, little nod, and his name. "N-nice to meet you, Ms Valland. I'm uh, Sam. Samton Verro, that is. I'm..." 'Tale-Keeper of the Lightning Bear tribe, Enchanter of Men, Composer of Epics.' This Signe had some grand descriptions by which to introduce herself and Sam felt that one gesture obliged another in return, but the humble village boy wasn't exactly overburdened with accomplishments. "I-I'm a cartographer. In training."
Yeah, didn't exactly sound that impressive by comparison. "We're uh, all with a caravan. From Sandpoint," he hastily added, brushing over his feelings of ineptitude, though without mentioning a word of Ameiko and the curse that had befallen her; the younger's Kaijitsu's omission of the same had not escaped him.
Curiosity perked up his demure self at the mention of a secretive key, however. "A key, you say?" Asuka and Lor-Sinn might have been correct in their fanciful pontification then. Maybe the wooden disk really did open some vault or another. Or would, if they just found more of them. How exciting! Ooh, would Signe maybe help him with his Ulfen? He'd been trying to learn for some time now. Language was exciting too.
The ogre was dead before Kajiwara could draw an arrow - Ruka, Asuka, and Sam's alchemist fire had seen to that. The rescued Ulfen woman with the fiddle seemed friendly enough, as well, and they could always use more help in this place. "I am Kajiwara Shogahiro. It is an honor to meet you, Signe Valland." He offers a formal bow in greeting. His clothes are fairly plain, and the bow he carries is ordinary looking, but well crafted. He carries a few quivers of arrows, some of which have different colored feathers than others. A simple dagger hangs at his belt. He altogether appears to be thoroughly underdressed and under geared for exploring a hostile abandoned castle. "May I ask what prompted you and your companions to venture forth to this castle?"
An amused smile slides upon Signe's lips at Sam's introduction and she offers Kajiwara her hand to shake. "We're all equals here my friend, no bowing necessary, I'm no queen."
Shrugging her shoulders at the question on her previous companions, Signe looks unbothered on their whereabouts. "They came to loot Brinewall. I came to provide entertainment and get paid, didn't know many of them personally. They were idiots and got attacked and bested by a sea drake so I, after a bit more trouble, ended up here. Without my crew or my pay or my share of treasure." She seems especially bitter at the last part.
"Either way, I don't know much more about these vaults, but I'm happy to help try find them. Might find my treasure." She says, with a wink.
Kajiwara shakes Signe's hand with a smile and says, "Bowing is a form of greeting in Minkaian culture, as a sign of respect. Your survival this long shows you are of strong character and courage, and I wished to acknowledge that fact." He is clearly not offended - he would not expect an Ulfen woman to know the ways of Minkaian culture. "We encountered the sea drake you speak of, and I suspect found ourselves with more luck than they. Now, let us see if we can find the keys to these vaults."
"Then it is settled! Let's go find those other keys! And true vault. Key AND vaults! Let's do it."
"Well..." Sam ventured cautiously, seeing as everyone seemed in agreement to move on, new addition included. "In that case, should we, uh, maybe just ask Ms Zaiobe?"
The mute harpy hadn't been forgotten by the wizard. "She promised to help us find whatever we're searching for if we killed Kikonu. Would be a big help in navigating this place. And Ms Kaijitsu did mention her - or, er, someone like her - in her delirium." He looked to Ruka. "Other Ms Kaijitsu, sorry. 'Beware the cuckolded cuckoo. It is in his shattered silent love you should seek aid.' Was that it?"
"Oh! Good idea. That's right. Sorry, my mind gets a bit scattered sometimes." She says this as though Samton would have absolutely no idea without her mentioning it.
Signe stays back, raising an eyebrow at the unusual social interaction in front of her.
The group leads Signe away from the dungeon and back up the first floor of the castle. Heading west through the library, they ascend the long spiral stairs up through the second story into the tower in the third story where they last left the harpy.
As they push into her chamber, they do not find her sitting peacefully in the chair like they did last time. Not initially visible, they walk into the room and look for her. It's not until they look up that they find her flying above the entrance, with her beautiful composite longbow pointed at them do they realize she's not going to receive them as peacefully as they had hoped.
She looses the arrow at Ruka, almost as if she singling her out from the others. Two arrows fly towards the slayer, but both miss as they hit on either side of her.
"Hey! What's the deal? We did what you asked us to. We didn't need another dramatic twist! You're just clouding the narrative tension at this point."
Asuka stares down the harpy, angered and frustrated at how Zaiobe could have such disregard for storytelling. She pulls out an acid flask and chucks it at the jerk.
"You never said you made more enemies?" Signe exclaims, perching her fiddle under her chin and striking up a tune.
"Hey, what's this now? Having second thoughts? We had an agreement, Ms. Zaiobe! Ruka didn't have a choice, Kikonu was pure evil! And I brought back your bow, see?"
Lor-Sinn takes out the borrowed bow to show it to the flying harpy, thoroughly confused at this sudden hostility.
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"Oh! Good idea."
Huh. Apparently seeing the harpy hadn't been such a good idea after all. Samton was properly distraught at the sudden and unprovoked attack from what he had thought to be the group's one ally in this madhouse of a castle. Even as the flying form of the woman descended onto them, his astonished mind demanding to know why, an unpleasant sensation settled within the pit of his belly. It wasn't a feeling familiar to the young man, inexperienced in the ways of the world as he was. But he recognized the heavy lead eroding his stomach lining quickly enough: it was betrayal. And betrayal, as he learned, sucked.
"M-Ms Zaiobe, why?! Kikonu is dead, you're not in any danger from him, so why would you...?"
Fleet thoughts quick to provide an answer, however unpleasant, Sam had to wonder: had this all been a ploy? Had the harpy merely played them, lied to him, in an effort to remove the oni so that she might take his position as master of Brinewall? This was... despicable! And really, really disheartening. It wasn't nice seeing evil where you had expected decency.
Maybe no monsters could be trusted? And with that new shard of black cynicism embedding itself into his pink heart, Samton grabbed another vial of purging fire and flung it.
Ruka isn't surprised when the harpy looses arrows at her, and therefore finds it easy to dodge out of the way. "I knew anyone who willingly dated that fiend couldn't be trusted."
The fact that Zaiobe is flying makes her pause only for a second. Only a fool relies entirely on one weapon, and she doesn't like to consider herself a fool. Unfortunately carrying a bow and properly using it are two entirely different things.
Kajiwara had hoped that Zaiobe wouldn't give in to her true nature, but that wasn't the case. Truly, a harpy made for a fickle ally, one not to be trusted. Wordlessly, Kajiwara drew two arrows and fired them in rapid succession.
Asuka's flask, Kajiwara's second arrow and Samton's fire all strike the harpy. Of all of the attacks though, it's Samton’s which seem to interest the most. As her wings go up in flames, she screams silently in pain.
Maybe she would have tried to talk to Lor-Sinn, but the smell of burning feathers seems to distract her from even attempting to talk, not overlooking the fact that she's mute to begin with.
Ruka had been the center of attention until Samton came in and attacke her with fire. She lowers her chin and gives him a hurtful expression as if to say I can't believe YOU did that. Turning her bow on him, she fires twice at him, critically injuring the man and sending him collapsing to the ground as he bleeds out.
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How could she be so mean? Samton, who had trusted her and relayed her words to the rest of the group? Samton, who was so shy and gentle? Samton, who wouldn't hurt a... well, he had set the ogre on fire only a little bit earlier. And helped Ruka execute Kikonu. And he did just set Zaiobe on fire now, only a little bit though.
"You are worse than Kikonu! At least he wore his evil openly!" Lor-Sinn's time for diplomacy is over, and the tiefling is enraged, using Zaiobe's own bow to strike at her.
Ruka sees Samton drop to the floor and fears the worst. She can't help him. Can't shield him, can't protect him, can't heal him. The only thing she can do is try to take out Zaiobe as quickly as possible so the people who can help him have time to do so.
She adjusts her grip on the bow and tries again. It's not her favored weapon, but she's used them before. She can do this.
"Samton!" Asuka clenches her talon as the poor wizard goes down hard. "You'll pay for that, Zaiobe!" She pulls out another acid flask to chuck.
Kajiwara grimaces as Sam goes down, but there isn't anything he can do to help - he had no healing magic. Lor-Sinn might be able to do something, though.
Focusing on Zaiobe again, he fires two arrows in rapid succession.
Signe continues to play her fiddle as she dashes over to her new fallen ally and bends over him.
"Shhhh now. Stay still." She says over the sounds of battle.
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Wonderful as books were ('boy, are they!'), Samton had joined the caravan largely out of a desire to learn from experience. There was so much reading couldn't teach one - or so he was told - that only lived experience could impart. Theory, they said, was only worth what you could practice. Well, the young man now conceded in looking at the feathered shaft sticking out of his chest, books certainly couldn't teach you the feeling of your lung collapsing around an arrowhead, but this was an awfully harsh lesson.
His legs cruelly deciding not to support him anymore, the wizard collapsed to the floor. There he was mostly occupied with trying - and failing - to breathe before the rapidly expanding darkness before his eyes consumed him. And yet where the body was failing, the mind soldiered on. And being an awfully adroit mind, it lingered on the image of the harpy as she had shot him. Betrayal. That was what her silent stare had conveyed. Betrayal. Docile creature that he was, this thought lit a fire in the dying village boy. It was an outrage born of the only thing that could truly insult such a proponent of rationalism: a logical fallacy. The harpy was a hypocrite.
Hoping against hope that some vestige of their telepathic link remained, Sam began thinking, hard, even as his vision faded. He needed her to know. He needed her to see.
You were betrayed. Only to yourself betray... he voiced within his own fleeting mind. The harpy had so hated the oni for his betrayal of her. And yet as soon as she rejoined the very group she had sent out to avenge her, she had betrayed them. It was surely the height of hypocrisy, and, as Lor-Sinn voiced above the wizard - though he could no longer hear - she was at least as bad as her ex-lover. You suck, Ms Zaiobe.
There. Dying was a pretty confusing experience, but at least that was one wrong righted in the world. Or was it? Samton couldn't tell anymore. His head couldn't manage thought anymore. He really hoped he wasn't really dying. He didn't want to make Parooh and Gandethus back home sad. And with that it was lights out, and he slipped into oblivion.
Although that strange warmth right there at the end was quite nice. And fiddles were pretty cool, he guessed.
Both Ruka and Lor-Sinn hit, the latter's comment drawing a scowl from the harpy. She almost turns her attention towards the tiefling, but something else takes precedence as the other attacks miss.
Watching Signe heal the fallen wizard, she wrongly assumes that she must be his lover. Scowling at the fiddle player, she turns her attention to her instead.
They can die together! she screams in her head, firing twice more. LOVE IS FOOLISH!