Roz runs as fast as she can to try to get closer to Nicoleta to provide healing. Vox lands a hit on the dragon, while Nicoleta scores several powerful strike, kicking the wyrm and punching it in the throat!
Sabina joins the fight, slicing the dragon's belly with her falchion.
The dragon roars in rage and turns its ire upon Sabina. This seems to trigger some sort of curse on it, weakening it, but still it tries to end the warrior's life! She fends off most of its blows, only getting battered by its wings.
Vox shoots once and then vanishes once more.
Aurelia casts ill omen on the dragon, hoping to give the dragon some bad luck!
"Just a big stupid lizard after all!" Nicoleta shouts at the beast as she continues her assault, hoping to keep the beast on the ground.
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Nicoleta and Vox each land a hit, but Sabina misses and Roz’s magic falters. Hampered by Aurelia’s hex, the dragon manages to claw Sabina and hit her with a wing.
Now that Vox is hidden again she takes a breath and then unloads her arrows once more.
Vox fires two more arrows into the dragons weak spots where they explode in a shower of volatile chemicals and gore.
The dragon roars as the arrows sink into its body. It collapses with a mighty crash, lying still.
Breathing hard Sabina casts aside her weapons and removes her helmet, revealing her now-scarred face. ”I surrender to you. I throw myself upon your mercy. I will confess the full extent of my participation in Queen Ileosa’s cruelty, but I beg you to give me a chance to undo what I allowed to happen through my inaction. First, though, we need to find somewhere safer to speak!”
"Oh," Nicoleta replies, looking at her wife in surprise. Sure that Aurelia had enchanted the woman, the idea that she might have had a change of heart had never occurred to her. "Yeah, uh. Get up. We need to find somewhere ... yeah, what you said."
She gestures at the woman to follow and begins moving away from the defeated dragon. She looks for the nearest tavern to slip into, glaring at anyone else there until they leave.
Vox takes a little while to join the other women, taking the time to systematically defang the dragon first. She enters weighing a particularly large specimen in one hand. "Might make a nice dagger." She says with a grin. "I'll be harvesting some of the skin and so on once we're done here."
Once she's said her piece the white haired elf fades into the background and watches the former Grey Maiden from the shadows.
Once safely away from prying eyes and ears, Sabina spills the tea. Over the past several months, she’s been spending more and more of her time outside of the castle, as she’s been feeling increasingly unwanted therein. She knows that Ileosa’s been recruiting devils to aid her, but isn’t sure how the queen’s been able to pull this off—she initially suspected a link to the Acadamae, but her investigations into that theory have shown no support. She knows Ileosa has some large hell hound pets, that a horned devil named Mavrokeras guards the castle's towers (although she’s not sure where he lurks), and that three barbed devils known as the Yallops have been increasingly annoying and disruptive.
Sabina also knows that a few Red Mantis agents have recently claimed portions of the fourth floor and that a powerful new leader has arrived from the distant south to reorganize them after their recent troubles, but Sabina avoids contact with them and knows little else about the assassins.
Finally, she explains that Ileosa has grown even more cold and grim of late, and for the past several weeks she has rarely left her chambers. She certainly hasn’t called for Sabina’s companionship since she started wearing that “ugly new crown,” and Sabina has finally admitted to herself that Ileosa likely never loved her—an admission that has driven her to finally turn against the monarchy.
"I want to aid the rebellion in retaking Korvosa," Sabina says. "While the Gray Maidens ensconced in the castle are completely loyal to the queen, some of those in the city proper still see me as their commander. If I can use this loyalty to gain their aid, the rebels will gain a potent fighting force on their side when the time comes for open conflict."
Nicoleta sits down at one of the tables in the back and pulls her wife into her lap as she listens to the knight tell her tale, nodding all the while. Periodically, she glances at Aurelia, knowing that her wife would be able to sniff out any lies the scarred woman might be telling.
She then begins her own interrogation. Subjects of interest:
The location of Togomor and any defenses/bodyguards he uses.
The location of Ishani Dhatri.
Who is the chief indoctrinator of the Maidens and where does she normally reside?
It seems that Sabina is being forthright and honest with you.
Togomor lives in the seneschal's apartment on the castle's second floor, but he often can be found elsewhere in the castle. He is a powerful bloatmage and usually keeps to himself, save for his familiar, a fat imp named Pudgyknuckles.
Ishani Dhatri is being held in the "justice chamber" of the castle, on the first floor.
The Maidens' chief indoctrinator actually happens to be Ishani's sister, Vavana! With Sabina's defection, Vavana is now the highest-ranking Gray Maiden in the palace, so the so-called "Arbiter of Allegiance" will likely be found by the queen's side in the throne room.
Vox has nothing particularly to add to the questioning and disappears once more to start harvesting the large dragon corpse outside. Rending such a mighty servant of the queen's down into spare parts will send a useful message - and there's some amazing work to be done with dragonskin!
"I think we should arrange for Ishani's rescue first thing," the dhampir says after a moment of thought. "Head through the secret entrance in the postern gate." She looks at Aurelia, giving her thigh a squeeze and then at the others. "Do we have the resources to tackle that right away? Or do we have the time to rest up first?"
"I'm nearly out of bombs." Vox says when asked, "But that's no reason to delay if you don't want to."
"I've used a portion of my powerful spells," Roz says, swatting at the faeries that have returned to poke and prod her. "Thankfully, the Green Mother has deigned to restore my abilities. But if we wanna be at full strength, it doesn't hurt to get some rest."
"Let's hit it early tomorrow morning, then," Nicoleta says, lifting Aurelia from her lap and setting her on her feet. With a possessive arm around her wife, she looks to Sabina. "Do you have a place to stay tonight? If not, you can come with us."
Sabina shakes her head. "If Togomor or his devils try to scry on me, I don't want to lead them back to you. I have some safehouses where I can lay low. I'll be in touch." The former Gray Maiden salutes before swiftly departing.
***
Late that night, after everybody has gone to bed, Aurelia and Nicoleta are awoken by a knocking on their front door. Answering it reveals the gaunt, looming figure of the nosferatu vampire Ramoska Arkminos standing outside in the gloom. "Good evening," he says with a formal bow. "I believe the time has come to see if we can purge the vampiric corruption. Would you care to invite me in?"
Unable to sleep even after a vigorous evening with her wife, Nicoleta attempts to settle the nagging doubts in her mind with a simple spread of harrow cards. Not feeling that this anxiety is worthy of bringing out the haunted deck, she's doing this reading with her original cards. While worn, they still feel comfortable in her hand.
And so the late-night knock at the door finds her sitting on the floor in the main living area in just a tattered pair of harem pants that she threw on. She looks to the door as Aurelia appears from the bedroom. The dhampir glances back at her wife and shrugs her shoulders. She collects the cards laid out in front of her and sets them on a nearby stand. Rising to her feet, she approaches to door and opens it.
"Arkminos?" she says in surprise. She looks again at Aurelia before opening the door wide enough for the vampire to enter. "Yes, please, come in," she says.
Arkminos nods and glides into the house, unconcerned by your state of dress. He takes a seat and steeples his fingers under his chin. "Word has reached my ears that you took my advice to heart. By removing the curse on Castle Scarwall, you were able to absorb the latent necromantic energies suffusing the spirit anchors that kept the chained spirit you destroyed bound to the castle. With that energy still in your body, it is theoretically possible that the elixirs I have concocted can draw upon it and remove the corruption from you. I have the elixirs here with me, if you still desire to take this step."
The vampire arches an eyebrow and awaits Aurelia's response.
At first, Aurelia had been eagerly antcipating this day. As the weeks had blurred into months however, her belief in that would come had continue to diminish until she had stopped thinking about it altogether.
The woman that had been repulsed by the sight of blood was gone, replaced by one that yearned for its taste. Empowered by her newfound gifts, did she want to go back? Could she go back?
"I..."
Aurelia stares at Arkinos in silence. The Varisian woman that can never shut up suddenly unable to find a single word. She looks to Nicoleta briefly, an unspoken plea of What do I do? flashing across her wide-eyed face. Looking on, she shifts her gaze to the floor where her eyes lose focus, drifting into thoughts about what to do.
Nicoleta takes Aurelia by the arm and leads her a couple of steps away from Arkminos. She knows that there's nothing from preventing him from hearing the conversation, but forms must be obeyed.
"I promised you that I would help you rid yourself of this. And to be completely honest, if someone came and offered me this chance I would be climbing them like a tree. But ..." She reaches out and gently cups her wife's jaw with her hand. "But, this is your choice and whatever you choose, I will still love you and still stand by your side, ok?" She looks from eye to eye and then leans in for a soft kiss. "I got your back, girl," she adds with a grin. "And it's not just because it's got such a fine arse attached to it."
Aurelia closes her eyes and takes a deep breath, letting her head bob in a small twice. With her eyes still closed, she traces the shape of her teeth with her tongue while she summons the courage do what needs to be done. After a few seconds, she squeezes Nicoleta's hand, opens her eyes and moves back to Arkminos.
"What's involved in this? What exactly is going to happen? Is it as simple as drinking an elixir and then POOF, everything was as it once was? Are there any risks to doing this? What could go wrong?" she asks, bombarding him with questions.
"It is as simple as drinking the elixir, yes. It will effectively burn out the vampiric corruption from your body and restore it to its fully human state. I believe it will not be pleasant, but it will also not be lethal," Arkminos says.
She holds out her hand for the elixir but then pulls it back and folds her arms across her chest. She turns back to Nicoleta and seems to be struggling with the decision more than she thought she would "You want the old me, right? You're not going to toss me out because I'll be... different. Things will be different."
The dhampir steps closer and slides her hands around Aurelia's waist. "Look, I fell in love with you. Not you the vampire; you." She grins. "So whether you drink that elixir or not, I'm going to take you back into our room and out onto the balcony under the night sky and I'm going to show you how much I love you. And if I do my job right, you'll be waking the neighbors and I don't give a f*!&."
"Alright." she says swallowing a lump of air, unable to procrastinate any further. She turns back to Arkminos and says "Let's do it."
The elixir is a putrid black color, brackish and bubbling with noxious fumes. It tastes terrible going down, and the effect it has an Aurelia's body is almost immediate. Her body is wracked with intense pain as she feels a burning sensation through all of her veins. Glowing points of bright, white light appear one by one in a straight line in between her hips, then going up to her belly, her chest, heart, throat, brow, and finally the top of her head. As each chakra unlocks, the elixir's energy purges the corruption of undeath from the mesmerist's body.
Once all seven points light up, her entire body briefly blazes with brilliant energy. Then it fades away and she slumps to the floor. Every part of her aches, but her fangs and other vampiric features have vanished, and the hunger for blood is no more.
Arkminos nods in satisfaction. He stands and collects his things in his carrying case. "I believe my work here is done. I will leave you ladies to it. Good evening."
Nicoleta pays the vacating vampire no mind as she picks Aurelia up in her arms. Bringing her into their bedroom she climbs onto the bed continuing to cradle the stunned woman.
When the now-human woman's senses finally come back to her the first thing she sees is a pair of large brown eyes filled with concern looking back at her. "How're you feeling?" Nicoleta asks.
With her eyes still closed, Aurelia clenches and unclenches her hands, trying to get some feeling back. When the energy flashed out of her body, it had taken something else with it. Whatever it was, she couldn't say, all she knew was that everything felt numb.
Eventually her body began to tingle as the sensation slowly returned, and she slowly opened her eyes. She tried to force her fangs into existence, but it didn't work. She felt different, but she wasn't sure just yet. She had to be sure.
Looking up at Nicoleta, she whispered "Blood. I need you to bleed. I need to know."
She waited for the monk to cut herself so that she could smell and see it. How would her body respond? Would she begin to salivate and desire it or...
Once Nicoleta had done as she asked, she simply stared at the blood trickling down her lover's arm with disinterest. While not the repulsion she had once shown to blood, she no longer held an attraction either. A slow smile spread across her lips as excitement began to grow inside of her. "I think it worked!" she exclaimed, eyes widening.
Nicoleta smiles back. She takes a moment to lick up the small trickle of crimson on her arm before looking back at Aurelia. "And how do you feel about that?" she asks.
Aurelia watches Nicoleta lick the blood up without a yearning to do so herself. In fact, she feels nothing at all. She shakes her head and says "It's not there. I. I don't feel like I want it. I don't crave it. I-WAIT!"
Leaping to her feet, she dashes to find something to look for her reflection in calling out loudly when she's rewarded with seeing herself for the first time in months.
"Damn I look like s~$$ though. Blech." she groans, sulking back to the bed and plopping down on it. "I need a day of being pampered to properly celebrate."
Nicoleta pulls the sulking woman into her arms. "If you want a day of pampering then you get a day of pampering," she says. "I think you look wonderful, though."
She then climbs off the bed and picks Aurelia up in her arms and carries her to the balcony, intent on fulfilling her promise to the sleeping neighbors detriment.
The next morning, the four of you reconvene, ready to take the fight to Castle Korvosa. The towering, four-story edifice is built atop a massive Thassilonian edifice, a dark-stoned pyramid known as the Grand Mastaba.
You quietly climb up the pyramid, out of sight of the palace guards on the parapets, and approach the postern. There, fifteen off the ground, a secret door grants access to the castle. Vox discovers a magical alarm on the door.
"Well, can you disable it or not?" Nicoleta snaps in annoyance at Vox. "We can't just hang around here all day."
"I could ram your head against it - something would break and either way I'd be better off." The elf replies, although the insult appears to be more pro-forma than anything else. "Now shut up so I can work."
"If I thought that would work I would have already done it," the dhampir replies, stifling a snort of laughter.
Vox is skilled enough to not set off the trap, even at her worst. A few tries allow her to disarm the alarm and unlock the door.
Wooden weapon racks featuring an assortment of weapons from longswords to daggers to maces line the walls of this armory. An elongated table sits in the middle of the room, and a long wooden ladder is stowed below the table.
To the south, stairs wind up and down the castles southeast tower. A hall leads west towards the barracks.
Nicoleta gestures towards the barracks with a silent finger and a questioning eyebrow before moving down the hall to the west.
This chamber seems to have once served as a food preparation area, judging by the shelves lining the walls. Now, several bunks have been set up for the Gray Maidens who are quartering in the castle.
Four of the armored women currently rest here, but none of them are very perceptive and they don't notice Nicoleta lurking nearby. With a distraction or some invisibility magic, you could probably easily sneak past them to get to the other rooms on this floor.
Vox volunteers to cause a distraction and it is simplicity itself for the practically invisible elf to cause a few noises that draw the maidens attention while Roz and Aurelia slip past.
To the west is a kitchen and pantry that are currently empty. North of the barracks is a workshop and smithy. Past these is a large mess hall, and as you approach, you can hear three voices singing a nearly incomprehensible song in Infernal about the pleasures of banqueting. The refrain, however, is in the Common tongue.
"Who would say a single beast could give us such a double feast? Yes, my friends, we’ve meat and fowl—cooking up from arse to jowl!"
The voices are off-key, at times guttural and deep, at times jeering and squeaky.
Four stone pillars support the ceiling of this large mess hall. Between each pillar stretches a long table lined on either side by high-backed chairs, although many of the chairs are slashed and savaged, or in some cases little more than ruins heaped on the floor. The table is piled with old pieces of rotting meat, broken bones, shattered weapons, bits of armor, and dozens of long barbs and quills. A fire burns in the large fireplace in the west corner, slowly cooking what appears to be a mostly plucked and skinned hippogriff. The scent of the cooking meat from the hippogriff isn’t quite enough to mask the rancid stink of decay.
The voices belong to a trio of barbed devils. Unaware of your presence, the fiends continue to sing as they use illusion magic to create eerie visual and sound effects for their own amusement, transforming much of the room into a hellscape of burning pits of tar and flesh, cauldrons of tormented souls, and trenches of the howling damned.
Vox holds up a fist and curls in het fingers slowly.
Three, two, one...
Then her hands blur into motion.
After ensuring mirror tricks are set on everyone, Aurelia follows behind Nicoleta as they sneak past the Grey Maidens. Once through, she watches Vox countdown her strike and times her own attack. Staring at a devil, casts her favorite laughing spell on it. .
"Dammit, I hate these guys," Nicoleta whispers with a groan, already dreading the painful barbs.
She takes a moment to harden her skin and envelope her hands in sparking electricity. She then streaks forward to engage with the nearest of the fiends.
Roz cast a spell of banishment, sending of the three devils back to Hell. Aurelia causes the second one to fall over, laughing, while Vox shoots the third with an arrow to the chest as Nicoleta rushes towards it!
Vox unleashes another flurry of arrows, one of which strikes particularly deep.
The devil falls as Vox turns it into a pincushion. The other one keeps laughing!
"Ah, f##@, this is going to hurt," Nicoleta grumbles before pummeling the laughing devil.
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Aurelia raises her crossbow and fires a bolt, triggering confusion in he target.