The little swat should have been playful, not painful. But that's not quite what the mesmerist feels as the extremely tender portion of her body flares up in pain, her muscles contracting and her hands tightening to fists as her eyes squeeze shut. She fights of tears, but just barely. "I'm. Fine." she lies through clenched teeth.
"I'm going to go bathe in holy water now." she says, walking off and making sure to keep a fair bit of distance in front of the monk.
Nicoleta grins to herself at the cringe of pain on Aurelia's face. She can't help but whisper, "Mine," before the mesmerist moves away.
In the aftermath, Roz sprawls out among the plants, eyes half-lidded. "That was fun. Next time, you should let Io out to play, though. She deserves a good time, too."
Vox, who doesn't seem one for cuddling or post-coital sprawling, shrugs."She's not sure about you three. Too confident for her - you want her in your bed you'll need to make it clear that you like her. Flowers, that sort of crud. I didn't tell you this but she's lonely. She wants someone, not just a good time" Vox's voice rises slightly in volume but gains a distinctly husky tone. "I... I take what I want."
Later, when the pain n her ass has faded and they are finished shopping, Aurelia pulls the other women aside. She avoiding eye contact with Nicoleta, but addresses the group at large. "These last few days I've been working on something special. I've worked out most of the kinks and I think that this will help us as we progress into this challenging area ahead."
Clearing her throat, she continues "Now then. What I am going to do is, well, let's just call a gift, shall we? I'm going to give each of you a gift that when the time is right, will help you in some way. With me so far?" she says without pausing to hear any objections. "Good."
"I have three different, uhm gifts, ready for you. I thought rather than just doing it without your knowledge, I'd work it out with you ahead of time what you thought would be most beneficial for you."
"The first one will allow you to steel your mind against spells and other attempts at controlling or otherwise intefering with your ability to withstand challenging mental dangers. I do this by allowing you to use my superior talents in this area, temporarily linking our minds and allowing you leverage my amazing willpower."
Holding two fingers, she continues "Second. I can create an image of your likeness that will confuse someone who is attacking you temporarily. Instead of targeting you with an attack, they may instead go for the image which would cause you to remain uninjured."
Moving up to the third finger, she adds "Lastly, I can temporarily block the part of your mind that makes you react to negative stimilus and allow you to stay on your feet fighting for a shortwhile longer. I can't hold it off but for fifteen seconds or so, but in a pinch it could keep you on your feet or allow you to focus enough to finish the task at hand."
"Which would each of you prefer?"
"You can do all of them at the same time?" Vox asks. With the prospect of action looming, the drow has taken over once again. "That's... impressive." There is a gleam in the drow's eye, one that is more than a little disconcerting.
With a smirk, she winks to Vox and stands up a little straighter "It is impressive, isn't it? Thank you for the compliment Vox."
"I've been practicing and I'm confident I can do it about a half-dozen times a day right now, but I'm sure I can increase it with practice."
"She's full of surprises," Nicoleta says with another smirk. "I'll take the trick of misdirection." She steps up to Aurelia, purposefully stepping into her personal space. "Hit me with your best shot, Sweet-Cheeks."
"Not being hit is always good." The drow continues, still studying Aurelia like a rather delectable steak. "Can you make magic so people don't see me after I shoot them?"
As the monk steps forward, exposing her back to Vox, the drow's hand flashes out and back with a crack as Nicoleta takes a hearty slap to her own 'sweet cheeks'.
Aurelia looks to Nicoleta as she approaches, her grin widening "Very good."
She's about to implant the trick, but the crack of the ass-smack causes her to burst out laughing. Aurelia can't help herself but shout "YES!" and reaches out to high-five Vox.
Nicoleta's head snaps around and her eyes narrow. She turns and steps up close to Vox. She leans in even closer until their noses are almost touching. "Really, Vox?" she asks with a smile. "Is now the time for this?"
The drow simply grins, a wide, gleaming grin. One of her hands snakes past Nicoleta's head to meet Aurelia's high five.
"There's a human saying that fits here." She says, still grinning, with a hint of challenge. "Don't dish it out if you can't take it."
Aurelia repeats "Yes, yes, YES!" and almost falls to the ground in laughter. When Nicoleta turns to face Vox, Aurelia can't help her self and winds up as far as she can and flat-hands the back of Nicoleta's ass as hard as she can.
"WHoooooo!" she cackles, "Who's the sweet-cheeks now, Peaches!?! HAHAHAH!?" she continues to laugh.
Nicoleta doesn't answer either Vox's verbal challenge or Aurelia's slap on her arse. Leaning in past Vox, she takes in the woman's scent. She then moves to the other side of her neck and does the same thing. When she finally pulls her head back she nods. "I can take whatever you can dish out, Whitey."
Before stepping away, she can't help but snake her tongue out to take a quick lick of the elf's chin.
She turns back to Aurelia. "Now what were we talking about?" she asks.
Aurelia stops laughing, "Wait, what?" she says, wiping her eyes. "Nothing? Not even an acknowledgement you just got your ass literally beat?". Putting her hands on her hips, she frowns. "Well that's no fun."
"No you can't." Vox replies, the barest hint of a warm breath across Nicoleta's cool skin.
The next time the dhampir turns however Vox is a few feet away, the contest seems to be over. For now.
Aurelia steps between the two and holds her hands out, pushing them apart. "Alright, alright. That's enough for now, let's focus on the task at hand, shall we?"
Nicoleta looks down at Aurelia with a smile.
"How about for every time you slap my arse, I get to slap yours?" she says, licking her lips. "Does that sound like fun? Otherwise, let's finish with the stupid graveyard."
Aurelia's defiance grows and she walks up until she is chest to chest with the monk's. Looking up at the dhampir she says "I don't know what you're talking about. If you're referring to that incident at the bar when you embarrassed me in front of everyone because I had drunk too much, when then let me clarify that I let you do that whole charade by picking me up and carrying me upstairs."
Tilting her head to look up at Nicoleta, she makes sure to stare into her eyes, her lids rising so the monk can see the wide-eyed Varisian woman taunting "Why, I could make you smack your own ass right now if I wanted to. I'm in control? You know that right? Say it."
Nicoleta matches Aurelia's gaze and will. A fractional lift of her eyebrow conveys the question, 'What are you doing?' She holds the woman's gaze for a moment longer before looking away. "'You are in control right now' is what you want me to say right now, so I'll say it."
She smiles.
"You are in control right now," she says and then licks her lips. "Right now," she repeats. "Since you're in control, what are your orders, Sweet-Cheeks?"
"That's right. I am."
Ego satisfied for the moment, she backs up a step to put comfortable space between them and runs her hands through her hair, smoothing it out for no apparent reason. "I want to get this show on the road, let's get to this graveyard."
She starts walking, knowing the others will follow behind her. Even though it hurts, she makes her hips sway as she struts her stuff along the way.
Roz regards Vox thoughtfully. ”Flowers, huh? Yeah, I think I can do that...”
Roz watches the other ladies’ antics, bemused. She pauses only to swat at the annoying faeries who insist on trying to spank her own bottom.
Korvosa’s vast graveyard, a region known as the Gray District, is a mournful place even by day. The district is alone in being a place of quiet and calm in the face of the civil unrest, yet there is an unnatural stillness in the air, almost as if the graveyard were preparing for a vast influx of new dead. Nowhere is this ominous feeling more noticeable than in Potter’s Ward, the final resting ground for Korvosa’s poor and homeless. Mounds of unmarked dirt stretch far and wide, indicating sites of mass graves, while crumbling mausoleums from years ago, abandoned by their families as the Gray District expanded to the west, dot the bleak landscape, forgotten and empty. Mourners do not visit here, for the dead buried in Potter’s Ward leave behind few who regret their passing.
Locating the entrance to the Dead Warrens is a relatively simple task with Cressida’s information in hand. No sign of Gaekhen’s body remains in the area, although you find the presence of a man’s tracks and a wheelbarrow trail. More interestingly, several smaller humanoid tracks clutter the site as well. These tracks lead into a mausoleum, where a search reveals a poorly hidden trap door in the floor that leads down into the dark.
[spoiler=Knowledge (local) DC 20]You recognize the tracks as belonging to derro.[/ooc]
Nicoleta looks around nervously as if things may begin jumping out at them immediately. She glances down at the footprints, but all they tell her is that something came this way.
Once they follow the prints to the trapdoor leading down, she frowns. "So we have to ..." She pauses a moment and swallows. "Go down there."
She spends a moment gathering up her courage before realizing something. "You two are going to need light, aren't you?" she says, indicating Aurelia and Rozalia. "Do you have magic for that or are we going to have to find you a lantern or something?"
Aurelia crouches beside the footprints and says "No idea, maybe uhm, halflings? Who knows?" she says, giving up and standing back up.
"Hold on." she asks, holding her hand. Turning to Nicoleta she says, "I'm going to try that thing we talked about earlier. If I don't make it happen and you need it, please call out to me to do it, alright?"
Though she hadn't said it out loud yet, she hadn't done this on anyone else before. Concentrating, she takes a deep breath and focuses on Nicoleta's body before her. Her eyes flutter several times behind her lids and she opens it up. "There we go. I think. Either it will work or your hair will fall out. We'll find out soon enough, eh?"
Nodding to the monk, she confirms her question. "Yes to both. I will not be able to see as good as you two, but I can cast a spell to light things up for Roz and I. I'll cast it on me so you can be ahead of us without light leading the way."
Looking down at the trap door, she frowns. "Is this really worth a thousand gold?"
”One thousand? Probably not, but three thousand? Now we’re talking!” Roz quips. She casts a spell on Nicoleta, and a warm shroud of protective magic settles over her. ”This should help keep you safe for a little while at least. Ready?”
Vox examines the tracks carefully. "Derro. Not halfli vs." She says firmly. "Nasty creatures. Could be trouble."
That said she examines the trapdoor briefly and then slips through it I to the darkness, apparently without any of the misgivings that trouble the others so much.
The trapdoor leads down to a large room dimly lit by patches of blue mood. The room is supported by four wide pillars of stone. The ceiling above arches in a dome nearly twenty feet high. The walls are lined with skeletons caked into the mud— adult human bones mostly, but here and there smaller bones might be from halflings or perhaps children. Fifteen-foot-square pits sit to the east and west, each filled with a large heap of hundreds of bones. To the south, a crude hole has been gouged out of the wall, providing access to a tunnel.
Vox spots some intact skeletons in the pits. Four human skeletons to the west, along with a hulking owlbear’s skeleton to the east. These skeletons shift slightly, as if in anticipation.
"Halflings can be nasty creatures too!" she adds in her defense.
Once Vox has disappeared down below, Aurelia waits for roaring, fire or the sounds of screaming. When nothing bad apparently happens, she follows her down.
Pointing to the skeletons she says "Okay, that's creepy. Those skeletons just moved, guys."
The idea of something other than undead as a threat in the tunnels seems to cheer the dhampir up slightly.
"Derro, that's not so bad, right?" she offers. Her eyes cross over all the skeletons in the room and her relief is short-lived. "Hold up a moment," she says.
Closing her eyes for just a moment, she draws in a breath as if smelling for something.
Nicoleta senses five faint undead auras, one on each of the aforementioned skeletons in the pits.
"Undead!" she announces, her eyes snapping open. She points to where the detected auras emanated from. "The skeletons!"
"Let me." Vox says quietly. She pulls her new bow, enjoying the heft and aims carefully at the owlbear skeleton before firing.
Frowning, Aurelia asks "Uhm. If you shoot it, isn't that just going to make them spring into action? Shouldn't we come up with a plan first?"
Vox’s arrow sinks deep into the skeleton’s eye socket, cracking the skull. True to Aurelia’s prediction, all of the skeletons rise up to spring into action! The owlbear skeleton looms large!
Nicoleta looks around at the others in the as if expecting someone else to step up and handle the threat. But at their expectant returning gaze, she growls in frustration before stalking over to the nearest enemy and bashing it with her fist.
Vox steps back, not up, but still does her bit.
"Sonofa-!" she curses at Vox, "So impulsive!" she growls and focuses on a skeleton. She knows that normally she wouldn't be able to affect undead and mindless creatures, but she's been studying for a situation like this and leaps at the opportunity to test it out. "STOP!" she commands and flings her wrist towards a skeleton while staring intently at it.
Having prepared for skeletons, Roz hurls a sling stone at the owlbear skeleton, cracking its chest. Vox’s second arrow is enough to finish it off, and it clatters to pieces.
Nicoleta misses one of the human skeletons, but Aurelia manages to daze it! The other three converge on the dhampir, but Rozalia’s protection spell keeps her safe from their claws.
As the skeletons close in on her, Nicoleta's eyes widen with fear, the whites shining around her brown eyes as her fists and feet lash out in desperation.
Vox circles to catch a skeleton between her bow and Nicoleta's fists.
With her dazing trick successfuly, Aurelia smiles to herself. Not even the undead can resist me. HA!
Raising her crossbow, she fires one of these fancy blunt bolts she bought just for this purpose.
Aurelia and Nicoleta each destroy one skeleton, but Vox misses and Roz’s bullet does minimal damage. The two remaining skeletons claw at Nicoleta, one scoring a lucky critical hit!
Nicoleta screeches in pain as one of the skeletons opens up the side of her arm. She blindly punches at it, missing wildly, and then sweeps her leg underneath it sending it to the ground.
Having taken a skeleton down, Aurelia tries to slow another one down by dazing it. Targeting one, she tries to cause it to freeze up like the other ones. "Get off her!" she commands.
Vox and Roz score light hits on the damaged skeleton, barely finishing it off. Nicoleta trips the other one, and Aurelia makes sure it can't get up for a few seconds. That's all the time Nicoleta needs to finish it off with a vicious stomp to its ribcage!
Nicoleta continues to stomp on the old bones long after they've stopped moving. "I told you that there would be undead here!" she snaps at the others as one hand grasps at the wound on her arm.
When she finally walks away from all the broken bones, she indicates the tunnel leading south. "Let's keep moving before they decide to get up again."
Roz gives Nicoleta a bad touch to heal her wounds.
"The protection spell will still last another minute or two," she says.
Ahead, the tunnel splits in two directions. The western branch stinks of sweat and mud, while the east smells like dried blood.
The dhampir's eyes darken at the smell of the eastern passage. "Let's go that way," she says, pointing west.
Rank with the stink of sweat and mud, this cavern contains four filthy straw pallets and a low table covered with dice and a miniature maze of carved clay.
Two derro sit at the table, playing a complicated game using a rat, a maze, handfuls of stones marked with numbers, a hammer, and a pair of pliers. As soon as they notice you, the small humanoids take up their hooked clubs and move to attack!