Val feels her pulse quicken as the noxious fumes rob her of her sight.
stay calm... at least for now, you know where it is... breath and aim, and kill it before it moves...
Trying to trust in her muscle memory and sense of hearing, she keeps her bow trained on the cyclops' position as she takes a step backwards and continues firing.
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Tessa blinks through the fumes and is just able to retain her sight, thanks mostly to luck. She then dances with the creature, bouncing on the balls of her feet as she thrusts her rapier repeatedly into it.
Polli's fireball explodes around the creature facing her half of the crew, but the flames don't seem to catch on the wrappings. With vicious stabs to the creature's joints, Tessa causes her foe to stumble. All but the last of Valeria's arrows find her target in spite of being unable to see it. Harmony, supportive as ever, inspires her companions to bring their best game. Marisan manages to hit it more times than not and Donomsail brings down lightning on Val's target.
Both of the creatures are staggering and on their last legs as they attempt to fulfill their age-old commandments.
Claws and teeth lash out of the darkness at Valeria and searing pain follows. Tessa manages to anticipate her attackers first blow, parrying it and sinking her blade into the creatures heart. It falls to the floor causing the ground to tremble.
Tessa is the only one to see a ray of black energy jet forth from the large stone to strike her. She feels her strength drain away.
Round 2
Harmony lets out a high pitched whistle, thankful that magic has so many cheeky laws.
Marisan dances around blindly, not hitting much,
Bloodied, and feeling a burning in her wounds, Val staggers another step backwards, trying to avoid Polli as she puts the wall to her back. Carefully adjusting her aim for the change in position, she continues firing at hurtful beast.
The archer listens carefully for the sound of her arrows sink into something relatively soft, or clattering on the ground. She pleased to hear that three more seem to have found their mark. Nevertheless, she quietly remarks, "Donm, if you hear a dull thud over here, it probably means I've fallen and one of those healing bursts might be in order..."
Feeling the wave of negative energy wash over them Donomsail knows how to take care of that even though she can't see what caused that force. Holding up her holy symbol she cries out to Gozreh. "Gozreh, gebruik Yer-energie om te keer dat die energie ons verder inslaan. Donna worry 'bout it Ah be makin' sure ye be okay." She replies to Valeria after her quick entreaty to Gozreh.
"IS everyone OKAY?" Polli shouts.
"Donna know, 'pends on how ye define 'alright.' Ah'm blind 'n' if'n anyone else be as well, welp, I kin take care o' that. Least ways fer a couple o' us. The rest be waitin' fer the day after this." Donomsail tries to keep a light tone in her voice, hoping that no one notices just how close to panic she is right now.
”I’m blind too,” Val confesses somewhat more calmly, ”but if my ears are correct, I think we killed both of the giant-things. Polli, do you know what those were? Or, more importantly how long we’ll be blind for if Donm can’t restore our eyes right away?”
"The Cyclops Mummies? No idea. I'd inspect our eyes for traces of the gas or particulates, swelling, magic, anything. But it happens I am blind so that's not going to work." Polli reaches out to see if she can grasp Doni's shoulder for comfort but finds something way too soft and big "Hells, Val put those things away!" turning the other direction she tries again.
With Val's arrows, the remaining undead falls, still, its obligation completed. The stone on the pedestal, though pacified for the nonce with Doni's outpouring of healing power, still roils with dark energy.
Round 3
"Who be able ta see? If'n ye kin git me ta Polli I kin..." She stops in midsentence as sudden realization sets upon her. "Ah Hell's bells, Ah jist remembered Ah donna have the right type o' spells 'membered ta fix this right now. Ah kin heal all o' us tamorrow but that be no good fer us taday."
"Not groovy!" Harmony comments, "Get back everyone! Tessa, can you still see? What's going on?"
Pain from wounds differs tremendously from having the strength zapped from your body. As such, the gasping cry that escapes Tessa lips as her strength leaves her takes her breath away. When Polli cries out if everyone is okay, all she can do is choke out gasps of air, unable to formulate any actual response. The choked hoarse cry resembles "...I-I... iiii-t..." as she clutches her chest, trying to catch her breath.
When Harmony calls for a retreat, Tessa obviously doesn't get back, she presses. She advances on the stone and uses her rapier like a baseball bat to smash it as hard as she can off the pedestal and into the wall.
The others hear Tessa gasp and then shuffle towards the central pedestal. A grunting sound follows and then the sound of her rapier clattering to the stone platform.
No further sounds follow.
"Shit! Who was that? Hell's below." the wizard swears the pulls on her magic to recover echolocation from her spellbook and casts it.
"Tessa! Where be ye?!" Donomsail cries out in alarm. She tries to remember where the pedestal with the stone on it is and slowly moves toward it, calling out Tessa's name as she does so.
~~~~
There is no response to Donomsail's cry. She can feel the building of negative energy signaling another draining ray.
"she's... gone." Polli gasps painfully soft. Raising her voice she yells with worry "Harmony, I don't see her. I don't know what she did either." she pushes out with her magical senses to try and find out what happened.
Feeling the negative energy build back Donomsail puts her Holy Symbol in her hand. The problem, as she sees it, is that this is a temporary fix eventually she will run out of her ability to channel the energy whereas the pedestal (or whatever is causing the negative pulse) could certainly outlast her. Hoping to time her release of energy to coincide the release of the other energy Donomsail holds onto her Holy Symbol and waits. "Gozreh, help my om hierdie regte tyd te bepaal. Ag, wil jy seker wees dat jou energie nie dieselfde tyd gaan gebruik nie."
"We have to fall back!" Harmony yells, taking charge and pushing her feelings down. "Everyone fall back until you hit a wall and then work your way around towards me, if you find a door way shout. We have to get out of the firing line and wait until I get my sight back!"
Marisan follows Harmony’s orders!
"I'm standing against the wall at the corner that leads to one of halls out of here," Val offers loudly, "if you follow my voice, Cap'n, we can duck around the corner where we should be safe..."
that sounded like her rapier whistling through the air before it clattered to the ground... I can tell them once we're safe, no sense complicating things now...
Donomsail channels energy one last time to keep the artifact dormant and then following Captain Harmony's orders, the remaining Sirens, blindly follow the edge of the tunnel until they're reasonably sure that their out of sight of the dreamstone.
Combat Ends!
"We still have the incense though." Harmony points out once Polli lends her two cents. "So if you girls don't trigger it already then one of you could take a dose and then I can get in to the stone. I don't want to leave Tessa there any longer than we have to, but we can't do this without at least someone being able to see!"
Polli gathers each of the blind sirens. Then tells them all she was able to figure out. "I can see somewhat due to a spell, but only for the next hour and a half. I am uncertain my willpower will be enough to resist the spell, but I am willing. I could try using magic to destroy the stone or lift it with mage hand. Also I could protect others a bit from the magic or try and direct Val on where to shoot it with her bow." she rattles out ideas. "The important thing is she is not dead." she says firmly to the blind stoned Harmony. "Though she might be going through hell, if the nightmares this thing has produced is any indication."
"I don't think we should wait. Arrows, spells, or I can try with my hands, I think those are our best possibilities."
”If you can tell me where the stone is, Polli, I think I can hit it with arrows,” Val offers, ”but I don’t have any adamantine headed arrows, so if the stone is hard enough there’s a chance that I still won’t be able to break it.”
The archer takes a deep breath and readies an arrow. ”I think it’s worth a try, and if we go now I’ll still be able to shoot faster from your last spell... it seems like maybe we should still have Donm use her channeling to protect us though?”
Once Polli finishes explaining the stone’s location, and Harmony has begun her encouraging song, Val rounds the corner and begins firing.
Once she's ready, Val takes careful aim as best she can based on Polli's advice. While her arrows miss the stone, her second shot hits the stand that it's resting on, causing it to fall to the floor with a dissonant ringing sound.
"You knocked it over. Good job. Wait here." Now that the aura is gone, the echoing Polli gets closer, kneeing out of reach of it berry stealing powers, she studies it for a moment to see if there is anything more that stands out.
If not, she'll run it through a series of magical spells.
Stopping to judge the effects of each before moving on the next. Bolts of force, searing lightning, explosions of fire, all she can muster the wizard throws, in hopes the berry is released.
Polli focuses her magical ire upon the crystal and before she's finished, she's rewarded with the sound of shattering glass and cracking ice.
This is followed by the thankful voice of Captain Tessa. And others.
~~~~~
Tessa is surrounded by five women and two men. All reasonably attractive in spite of their rough and stained clothes.
"I am Audessa Reyquio," one of the women speaks up. "My companions and I would like to thank you for freeing us from our prison. Please, tell us how long we've been held there."
Polli is panting with exertion, having THROW her spells with physical force even though it added nothing. Tessa's alive Polli grins. She had a strong worry that shattering the crystal would have been bad, 97% sure it would be fine but that 3% had her stomach turning with every spell. For a very brief moment, she almost ran up to hug her. But no,.
"How in the hells would I know?" Polli the diplomate answers the gracious attractive woman with her full charm. "TESSA IS ALIVE! PLUS OTHERS!"
Val turns her bow towards the unfamiliar voice, trying to give them the impression that she can still see them. ”What was the date when you were trapped?” she asks in a genuine effort to help.
"Do anybody be needin' healin'?" Donomsail asks, instinctively looking around even though she can't see anything.
"The date?" Audessa questions with a trace of confusion. "Uh, I'm not sure. It was the fifteenth of Gozran when our ship was taken."
"No, it was the fourteenth," one of the other women corrects. "It couldn't have been the fourteenth," a third interjects. "It was the fourteenth!" the second insists.
"Girls!" Audessa says in a commanding voice, stopping the argument. "Our ship was taken somewhere around the fourteenth or fifteenth of Gozran."
"It was the fourteenth."
"And we were brought to a old fort and held there in cages for about three weeks. They talked about selling us as slaves, but then their leader decided to use us in some sort of ritual. In the process we were trapped in some sort of stone or crystal and we've been there ever since."
She pauses before continuing. "So that would mean that we were trapped somewhere around the first of Desnus ... 4739." She takes a deep breath. "What year is it currently?"
”I’m sorry...” Val answers honestly, “but you’ve been imprisoned for over five months. It’s the 26th of Lamashan today. But the good news is that you are free now- free of the crystal and free of your cages.”
Polli looks at the silent Tessa, with worry, before looking back at the women "Are you alright, physically I mean. Donomsail is a cleric, and I am a doctor. We have some rations and water if you are suffering in those regards. And we have a ship where we can eventually bring you back to civilization if any of the cities in the Shackles can be called civilization. Polli relays clinically.
"Free," Audessa repeats to herself. She takes a deep breath. "We thank you. And more importantly, we owe you a debt."
Tessa is the only witness, but all seven of the rescuees bow their head in the direction of the Sirens.
"We are all quite skilled in the art of ... hospitality," she continues, "and we would be happy to pay our debt in any way we are able."
Actually, I could use a bit of healing, Val tries to reply to Polli and Dony mentally before remembering that she can only do that when they can see each other.
sh!t... I don’t want to show any weakness until we’re positive we can trust them, or at least that we don’t need to fear them, even in our current condition...
Val smiles at their offer of payment but doesn’t interfere with whatever negotiations either captain might have in mind.
"Ah donna know jist how many of all the new ones need ta be havin' healin' done on 'em but Ah do know mah friends kin use some. If'n those of ye who kin see make sure 'nough of t'others bein' close ta me near 'bout thirty feet be good." Giving the sighted ones a chance to help the others get close and hopefully hearing someone tell her they are ready she once again takes her Holy Symbol in hand and prays to Gozreh to help them heal.
"Gozreh Ah weet Ah vra dit vandag baie, maar kan u ons almal in u genesende energieë was?"
Once done she sighs contentedly, the night on the beach having done her quite some good for both her nerves and her confidence.
"Well that depends on your goals." Harmony says. "Do you wish to return to port in the Shackles or were you looking for a new life? This island is the property of the fine ladies around me and amongst other things there is to be a great meeting of Free Captain's here in a couple of months. So people skilled in hospitality could find patrons or other markets, were they inclined to stay. There is plenty to work to be done beforehand of course." She shrugs, languidly. "So the choice remains yours. We will give you passage aboard the Siren if you require it, or a home here - temporary or permanent as you please, if you are willing to join our crew."
"We were ... working ... on the Untainted, a large Chelish warship that was hunting pirates," Audessa says with a trace of a smirk. There are some giggles from her companions. "In spite of the irony, business was good ... for us at least." She shakes her head. "We're not pirates, soldiers, or sailors. But if what you say about a meeting of Free Captains is true, we could certainly assist in that regard. We know how to throw a party, don't we?" Her companions agree loudly. "We can insure that your guests get a very warm reception."
~~~~~
In less than an hour, Harmony's blindness fades, leaving just four of the six Sirens without vision.
Val lowers her bow as the conversation seems to progress well, but she listens carefully to the rhythm and tone of Audessa's voice for any signs of deceit.
Tessa shakes her head, banging her fist against it a few times once free. "WOW! You do not want to be in there!" she remarks, taking stock of putting faces on her new companions, wondering if these were the voices she heard earlier.
Looking out at her blind friends, she says "I'm alright now, thank you for freeing me."
She takes a few steps forward and suddenly the full weight of her weakened state hits her again and she staggers a few steps. "Unff. Actually. I wouldn't mind some tender love and care, I'm not feeling my best."
Looking back at Audessa and her companions, she waves them forward. "C'mon. Let's all get out of here and we can talk about a party and libations. We have the damndest cheese back on the ship that I'd love to show you."
As soon as Tessa staggers, the two men step forward and each offers her an arm to steady herself with.
"Here, let us up you, Miss Tessa," one of them offers.
"This room right over here," Val offers while gesturing with her bow towards the double door next to where Dony had been standing during the fight, "has only the one way in and out... its an easily defensible place to rest and get that tender love and care, Cap'n?"