Vox has nothing to say and retreats back into the room to check on Vencarlo - he deserves to be part of this.
Nicoleta considers the woman's words for a moment and then finally shrugs. "I guess you're right. It doesn't really matter as long as you don't turn into an evil tiger-fiend and kill us all."
She glances at Aurelia and then back at the woman.
"Any chance we could see your tiger form?" she asks with a forced casualness.
"Oh my f@~#ing Gods..." Aureli says, rolling her eyes and folding her arms. "Are you f$+*ing serious right now?"
Looking to the tigerwoman, she asks "Would you take your shirt off so she can see your t@@& too while your at it?"
Ignoring the potentially lethal evil tiger-fiend, Nicoleta turns to the mesmerist. "What is your damage? I know you're not on the rag, so what crawled up your arse?! You've been a right b+!$# since we got here!"
Also ignoring NotVenCarloShasa, Aurelia tightens her grip on her arms and raises her voice and yells back at Nicoleta "Ooooh right! So it's my fault you want to shag everything that walks that isn't me?! What, am I not sweet enough anymore? My blood is too tainted for you? Is that what's going on?"
Meliya smirks and leans against a wall, clearly enjoying the squabble.
"Hey, lovebirds? Maybe we should focus on the task at hand, yeah?" Roz says.
Nicoleta ignores the oracle's attempt to redirect their actions to something more productive.
"Are you f*&!ing kidding me? I haven't had a shag with anyone else since I've been with you. Not that there haven't been offers, mind. But I said 'No' 'cause it wouldn't be right. I like to look, yeah, but why is that such a bad thing? Gods, if you're going to act this way when I talk to someone else, I probably should have been f+%@ing my way through the city. At least I'd have had the fun that I'm paying the price for."
She turns to look at Meliya. "Have plans after we kill your brother?" she asks.
”Of course,” Meliya says. ”Secure our family’s fortunes in the city. Continue to keep our low profile instead of reaching for delusions of grandeur like Glorio. He dreams of usurping the monarchy and establishing himself as the ruler of Korvosa. I simply want to maintain the status quo.”
'Megolomaniacs.'
Nicoleta closes her eyes. "Let's just get this s+~# done. Where's Glorio and where's our missing functionary?"
Vox, who has been listening to the whole conversation with Vencarlo, raises an eyebrow at the man - silently soliciting his opinion.
”We need to find Neolandus and get out of here,” the real Vencarlo says. ”If working with Meliya is the best way to do that, then let’s get it over with.”
"Fine." Vox says sharply, opening the door. "We find Neolandus, then deal with your brother. Where is he?"
”Glorio first, then you get your seneschal,” Meliya insists.
At the Not that haven't been offers comment, Aurelia just rolls her eyes. "We'll finish this at a more appropriate time." she concludes and turns back to Meliya.
She listens to the others flush out the conversation and adds "Fine. Let's go kill this a@!@~@%. I think we're all agreed he needs to die, so let's just get that out of the way. Are we planning to go today or hit him first thing in the morning?"
"Glorio has been watching you this whole time," Meliya says. "He can scry through the bloodstones throughout the palace and the dungeon. Including that magic ring he gave you. He'll know we are coming for him, and he will hunt you down if he suspects the secret of his true nature has been revealed. Unless you have some swift and stealthy way to exit this place, our best strategy would be to hit him hard and fast."
Fortunately, your recent experiences seem to have honed your skills, making you more prepared to face the challenges ahead.
"That I can do." The drow says, barring her teeth for something that might be a smile. "I'll have the kukri's back now."
Assuming she gets them back she passes them on to Vencarlo.
"Oh, really?" Aurelia says at the mention her brother is watching.
She turns and flips double birds and spins in a small circle shouting, "READ MY LIPS THEN F+&~FACE, I'lL GO SLOWLY FOR YOU. F-U-C-K Y-O-U!"
"If we're taking on this a+~!%@+ right now, then I'm going to need some fixing up. If you've got anything left, Roz, hit me with it," she says, cringing in anticipation of the pain.
Roz gives Nicoleta two bad touches to mend her wounds. "So, what's the plan?" she asks.
"Glorio will have posted guards in the courtyard to watch for your return," Meliya says. "If we go up through the secret door, the elephant will move and give us away."
"Maybe Aurelia can make us invisible and use this dimension door wand to take us up there without being seen?" Roz suggests.
"Sure. We show up ... bamph! ... kick his arse ... done! Break for lunch," Nicoleta says with a satisfied nod. "Let's do this."
"I've a wand as well. It is nearly depleted but it will be worth it to use a charge to finally give my brother what is coming to him," Meliya says. She describes the precise distance for Aurelia to envision then uses her wand to take Rozalia there while the mesmerist brings Nicoleta and Vox.
This austere chamber is apparently the sleeping chamber of someone quite orderly. The bed is made, sheets drawn tight against the mattress and pillows arranged perfectly at the head, and a dressing table and chair at the bed’s side are both dust-free and polished to a shine.
"Make your preparations now. Then we will slip into Glorio's quarters and hopefully take him unawares."
Vox nods her agreement to the plan.
"Where are his quarters?" She asks, keen to get the lay-out of the land (and possible hiding places) in her mind.
"Across the hall, about 40 feet to the southwest," Meliya says. "There may be guards on patrol along the upper walkway."
"They will not see me." The drow says with complete confidence.
Muttering something that sounds suspiciously like, "Then why in the hells didn't you send us right to his quarters?" under her breath, Nicoleta shakes out her shoulders and readies to move across the hall.
Meliya's sharp senses pick up Nicoleta's mutters, and she glares at the monk. "One, we were using two separate spells to teleport. The gap in between the two would have given Glorio a few seconds to react before we could bring our full force to bear against him. Two, if there are guards in the hall, they would respond to my brother's calls for help, and we would be fighting on multiple fronts. My brother is craven enough to hide in his chambers until we reach him, allowing us to dispatch the guards first before we attack him."
While under the protection of her invisibility sphere, Aurelia moves along with the group down the corridor silently. She doesn't participate in the nitpicking with Meliya, wanting to just get this overwith.
As you slip out of Meliya's room, you can see that you are on an upper walkway that overlooks the garden on the ground floor 25 feet below. The air is humid, and the sound of bird calls and the gentle babble of the fountain trickle up from below.
Four fiends stand guard in front of the doors to Glorio's room. Each one has six colorful vipers in place of arms, and a long, forked tongue in its fanged mouth.
They don't seem to notice you while you are invisible. You have the advantage.
"Now that's just f&$@ing weird," is Nicoleta's response when she sees the snake-armed guards. "There's a combat technique known as 'snake style'. I wonder how well they would be able to learn it."
Not wishing to spend any more time before giving themselves away, the dhampir dashes forward to strike the nearest of the guards.
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"There is something seriously wrong with that." she mutters under her breath before casting glitterdust over the area of the snake-arm creatures.
Vox takes her time lining up her shot and sends a single lethal arrow down the corridor in front of Nicoleta.
Two of the raskshasas are blinded by the glitterdust. While Roz begins a lenghty summoning spell, Vox shoots one of the enemies and Nicoleta kicks the same one but fails to trip it.
Roz finishes her spell and a bralani azata appears! The oracle then casts blessing of fervor and directs her minion to fire on the rakshasas!
Its good-aligned arrows pierce their damage reduction!
Vox takes aim at a single rakshasa and unleashes a flurry of arrows.
The dhampir continues to kick and punch at her selected target.
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Vox takes down the wounded rakshasa and injures a second one. Nicoleta pummels that one as well but fails to trip it. That rakshasa hisses and bites at Nicoleta with its fangs and its many snake-arms! A few bites land, and the monk begins to feel confused. The blinded ones cast spells, firing magic missiles at Vox. Both remain blinded by the glitterudst.
Vox takes a battering but retaliates against a blinded rakshasa to take advantage of their situation.
The dhampir shakes off the effects of the venom and continues to strike at her opponent.
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"Don't you just find this hysterical, fuzzy things?" she asks, casting a spell to make the one in front of Nicoleta drop and laugh.
The rakshasa in front of Nicoleta falls down, laughing hysterically, its viper arms hissing along with mirth!
Despite Vox's somewhat shaky aim, she finds it easy to hit her blinded foe. Roz's summoned bralani finishes off that target, while Nicoleta stomps on the laughing one, wounding it. Roz moves in to give Nicoleta a bad touch.
The last rakshasa standing aims its snake arms at Vox, firing bolts of energy blindly. Fortunately, only one hits the drow, the violet viper blasting her with force. The laughing rakshasa continues to do so while the other one remains blinded!
Nicoleta redirects her attacks to the still standing guard, determine to end her hail of arrows.
"As funny as you are, you should be on stage," she says over her shoulder to Aurelia.
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"Awww. Do you mean that Peaches? Do you think I could perform on stage? I've always wanted to showcase my talent to the world." Aurelia says honestly, admitting something she's always kept inside.
She draws her crossbow and takes a shot at the standing guard, somewhat distracted at the thought of performing.
Vox, in a miracle of dexterity, manages to twist so that the blow strikes her shoulder and merely spins her in a circle rather than dumping her on the floor.
Sadly her luck doesn't hold and her aim is dubious.
Despite not aiming very well, Vox still manages to hit the blinded rakshasa with three arrows! The bralani and Aurelia shoot it as well, then Nicoleta finishes it off with a flurry of blows. Another few seconds, and the laughing rakshasa is silenced as well!
Aurelia quickly takes a knee searching the guards and the area of anything useful before urging the group to move on.
Vox throws open the next door, using its opening angle to conceal herself.
"Loot later, Love," Nicoleta says as she moves through the open door.
The crowning glory of this dazzling chamber is, without a doubt, the four-posted canopy bed that takes up a full quarter of the room. Silk sheets, gossamer curtains, ebony bedposts depicting tigers and cobras chasing monkeys in an endless circle, and a half-dozen huge pillows combine to create a resting place fit for a king. Strange and ferocious animal heads are mounted on the walls, their eyes looking almost alive. A towering redwood cabinet stands against the eastern wall, while to the west sits a massive desk covered with books and scrolls and a large green paperweight the size of an apple. An exotic-looking, five-foot-long stringed instrument sits displayed on a bronze stand near the desk, and a spherical birdcage containing several brightly colored songbirds hangs from the center of the ceiling above.
Glorio Arkona stands here, greeting you with a cold smile. "Ah, I see you have thrown your lot in with my sister. You know what she is, don't you? A monster, like me! Overthrow me, and you'll just be trading one fiend for another!"
"Enough, Bahor!" Meliya growls. Her form shifts to reveal a fox-headed rakshasa. "Your reign ends today!"
"So be it, Vimanda," Glorio sighs. His form shifts too, until you are faced with a tiger-headed man with backwards hands. "So be it!"
Bahor casts a spell, detonating a fireball in your midst!
Aurelia takes note of Meliya and raises an eyebrow before turning to Glorio "She's definitely sexier than you are, you gotta give her that. Also, she didn't attempt to send us to our deaths in a maze. I think your time is now done."
Aurelia casts a spell, trying to make Glorio very bored with all of this.
Nicoleta's response is less verbose. "Ooo ... a fox! That's hot," she manages to say before she dodges away from the flames.
In a flash of movement, she's next to Glorio.
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Vox ducks swiftly back behind the door frame and emerges only slightly charred. She doesn't bother evaluating the sibling's sexual attractiveness and simply shoots them instead!