Ray moves over to her and looks her over.
Amanteia looks up at Argus and smiles. "Oh, hello, dear. I am fine! How are you?"
Amanteia is under the effect of a suggestion spell. You recall that Colulus told her to sit on that bench until he said to get up.
The ettercap has literally nothing on him.
Ray sighs exasperatedly and sits on the bench next to Amanteia. "Might as well kick back for a bit. It's a suggestion spell, and it can last for hours. There's nothing for it but to wait it out. Hopefully he wasn't a terribly potent caster, and it'll be over in an hour or two. If not..." He throws his hands up as if to say, what can you do?
Argus plops down on the bench on the other side of the sorceress. "V-very well. I could use a b... breather after that anyway. I detest when they seek the p...path of self-destruction. Killing is... exhausting." It is obvious from his demeanor that he doesn't just mean physically.
He motions the young oracle over and takes his hand, patting it in a paternal way. "I appreciate you following my l-lead, even though you did not think it the b... best course of action. L-let me tend to your w-w-wounds."
"I know you do not ap...prove of my Code. Believe me, I am far more accustomed to falling upon my enemies w...without mercy. But that was before my vows. I m-must give them the opportunity for grace. N-not just for their sake, but for m-m-my own, and by extension, for your sakes as well."
Argus smiles, showing off his stumpy, uneven tusks. "It is here where it is most needed, I think. At least, where w...we walk. I would not p-presume to know what the rest of another deity's r-realm needs. Only what w-we as mortals need."
Bob decides to move to a dumber head, and comes to rest atop Ray.
Ray doesn't even notice Bob perched on his dome, preoccupied as he is with his own thoughts. He sort of tuned out once the moralizing started. He's never had much use for it; he does his job and goes home. This whole place disturbs him on a new level precisely because he can't go home. Home is gone. Auranya is gone. Dad is gone. He has adoptive siblings somewhere in the world, but he has no idea where, and was never terribly close to them anyway.
He feels untethered, and the kid with the spell and the mind-f+@$ yesterday really didn't help. He's a mess and he knows it. He misses the Varlokkur, and Absalom (well, some of it; some of it was very, very bad). It broke his heart when they cut him loose.
He wonders when these yahoos will cut him loose. Probably once they're done using him to escape this place. When they have no use for him, he's dead weight. That's how it goes. People use you when they need you and toss you aside when they don't.
Auranya felt different. He never had a damn thing she needed, he just really liked her baked rye. And was kind of funny, apparently. Enough that she looked past the wild eyes and crazy hair and fear and paranoia and hurt. Nobody else had ever looked at him that way.
And he never even said goodbye. Like a f$##ing coward. The kid was right; he's not strong. He's never getting out of this s#%%hole alive.
Bob, sensing his companion's emotional state, gently nips the top of his head. Not hard, just enough to get his attention. The occultist absently reaches up a hand to stroke the bird, and he leans into it.
Amanteia looks politely at everyone while they speak.
Thankfully for Amanteia's mage armor, the compulsion only lasts an hour. One moment, she is sitting on the bench quietly, hands and ankles folded in an obviously well-practiced posture; the next moment, she blinks and leaps to her feet, eyes wide.
A glob of green energy begins to grow in her hands as she looks around frantically. "Where is he?!"
Argus stands and puts a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "W-welcome back to us, Amanteia. Fear not. The b... beast is slain."
Ray sighs and stands up from the bench. "Finally. Let's get moving."
He holds up a hand. "Wait. First..."
In the name of completion, he hustles down to the door at the south end of the courtyard, checks it open, and (if he finds it safe) throws it open.
Argus follows Ray down to the south door in case there's trouble.
Amanteia drops her hands. How did this happen? She thought her will was ironclad. She looks at Argus, speechless.
Ray opens the door to find the same storage room that was behind the poorly-hidden secret door.
Ray shrugs. He suspected that's what he'd see, but this place is so gods-cussed wonky that he's taking nothing for granted. He heads up to the north door and inspects it, listening for noise on the other side, scanning the door jamb for trigger mechanisms, the works.
Once Ray gives the all-clear, Argus readies his glaive and slowly opens the door.
Argus swings the door open. This long hallway stretches to the east and west to wooden doors. Every few feet, an elaborate portrait depicts a scholarly individual. Most are reading heavy tomes, wearing academic robes, or holding quills. All have sour expressions.
|
"Friendly bunch," Dellan mutters cheerfully. Their absolute annihilation of the nightmare ettercap has left him in high spirits, higher than they have been since their horrifying battle against Vithiz yesterday. The knowledge of what transpired there gnaws at the back of his mind even still, but at least for the moment, he feels like they maybe have a chance to get out of this awful dimension.
Well, the others do anyway, and that's good enough for him.
Ray grunts noncommittally as he scans the floor, walls, and occasionally ceiling. This whole place has him paranoid now that they've actually found traps here. He decides he's not going to let that happen here.
Once they reach the door, he gives that a thorough once-over as well.
The hall only looks to be thirty to forty feet long, but as you walk along it, the western door doesn't seem to get any closer. You notice that, the longer you walk, the more peevish and disappointed the portraits seem to look. You also notice that no two portraits are of the same person, no matter how many you see.
Also, the eyes of the portraits follow your every move, because of course they do.
Ray frowns. This is definitely odd, but he's not entirely certain it's an illusion either. He casts detect magic and sweeps it around the hallway.
Ray is unsurprised to detect illusion magic in the hallway. However, similar to other illusions they have experienced in this place, simply knowing it is an illusion is not enough to dispel it. Something about the Dream Gate is warping the magic and making the illusions semi-real.
Ray jabs an accusatory finger at one of the paintings scowling at him disapprovingly. "Keep giving me that look and I'll gouge your eyes out, a!&@+&@." He turns with a huff to the party. "Well it's an illusion, not that it matters. Doesn't change the fact that reality is derped out and apparently walking no longer functions correctly. Any suggestions?"
The figure in the portrait -- a dour-looking, absolutely ancient human man -- reacts to Ray's dressing down. It doesn't speak, but it pulls its head back in a well-I-never expression and looks side to side at the portraits flanking it. In fact, Ray notices that all the portraits in the immediate vicinity are now chastising his outburst with positively withering expressions.
Dellan leaves the hallway via the eastern door with no issues.
Ray's eyes narrow at the portraits. "You can understand us, can't you!" He draws himself up and puts on his best tough-cop face from his Varlokkur days. "If you know how we can get to the other end of this hallway, you'd better tell us now, or I will take my sword to each one of you. Slowly."
Argus is not a fan of browbeating, but he hopes Ray's gambit works. It's not like he'll actually let Raybin enact retaliatory violence against a sentient being. So, he hefts his glaive and reluctantly puts on his scariest orc-face.
The portraits' mouths drop open as one, simply aghast that someone would make such a threat. However, it appears that they take it seriously, because the western end of the hallway pops into place, and suddenly the western door is within arms' reach.
Ray smooths the wrinkles of his armor and jacket imperiously and strides up to the door, throwing it open and stepping in.
Argus grumbles to himself as he moves to join the others, notably irritated at having to do that.
Ray opens the door. This elegant sitting room has two divans and a low table with a silver tray upon it. Doors lead out to the east and west.
Ray sweeps the room with detect magic before checking out the door.
Assuming he finds it clear, he steps back and lets Argus open it.
Argus nods and, once the room has been checked and everyone is ready, he opens the next door.
Ray detects magic from a sheet of parchment resting on the platter. As he moves in for a closer look, the parchment suddenly rises in the air and unfurls to a length of almost 4 feet. It stiffens its edges to a blade-sharp edge, and somehow you can tell it is not a friendly magical parchment.
Guardian scroll! Let's see if you can murder it as quickly as Ulysses and Melech did.
It's a construct with DR 5/magic and it's immune to bludgeoning, crushing, and falling damage. Vulnerable to fire.
Its main attack inflicts bleed damage and gives it a free grab attempt. On a successful grapple, it smothers its victim.
The parchment launches itself at Ray, its sharp edge slicing a deep, bloody gash across his face . It continues all the way around his head, until it is covering his face completely, and squeezes.
Creature (0 damage, grappled)
Ray (21/27 hp, 1 str damage, 1 bleed, grappled, suffocating [24 rounds])
Argus (40/40 hp)
Amanteia (27/29 hp)
Dellan (29/34 hp)
Bold may act.
Ray utters a muffled scream as he puts his hands to his face and tries to rip the paper off him.
Argus drops the glaive in the absurdly tight quarters, pulls out the silver short sword, and stabs at the paper, trying hard not to hit Ray.
"Magical weapons if you have them! And fire!" She has neither so she fires off a couple of missiles.
Dellan's holy fire hits the parchment hard, burning large holes into it. Ray tears the parchment off his head and Argus immediately slashes it with the silver sword, but the paper seems unaffected by the weapon. Amanteia's two missiles create a huge concussion in the small room, and the paper takes the brunt of it.
The paper repeats its slice and surround procedure on Dellan .
Creature (16 damage, grappled)
Ray (26/27 hp, 1 str damage)
Argus (40/40 hp)
Amanteia (29/29 hp)
Dellan (28/34 hp, grappled, 1 bleed)
Bold may act.