Tanjona continues wasting everyone's time.
Farrina's non-lethal damage disappears under Seraphina's lifelink, transferring the damage to the oracle instead.
When the ruse is definitely up, she raises her crossbow, takes aim and fires.
"You weren't supposed to look at it that closely, idiot. This is all your fault!" Farrina calls out to Sabo before sending a pair of arcane bolts into the woman.
As Sabo fends off Tanjona's trident, Adolina and Seraphina intervene to assist Farrina, wounding one of the dottari guards. Farrina pummels Sabo with a pair of magic missiles.
"For Asmodeus!" Sabo cries, declaring a judgment. Her wounds start to heal as she swings her mace at Tanjona, bashing him in the head!
The dottari try to whack Adolina with the flats of their blades but do not hit.
The oracle takes away Tanjona's wounds, much like she took Farrina's. She needs to heal herself however, so she uses a burst of positive energy to heal all of her companions, including herself.
"Oh, take that horned devil and stuff him up your rump!" Farrina declares back, sending another pair of missiles at Sabo.
While Farrina blasts Sabo again, Adolina takes down the wounded dottari. The remaining guard and Sabo abandon their nonlethal tactics, attacking with deadly intent. Tanjona takes another mace blow to the face.
Tanjona just keeps blocking with his head like it's the most natural thing in the world.
Seraphina uses a charge from her want to offset the incoming damage from Tanjona, doing her best to keep him on his feet.
"Oh, no, I wouldn't think of killing the woman that RUINED my performance!" Farrina shouts back. A pearl appears within her hand, rolling across her fingers. Her other hand repeats the gestures she just used and another pair of mystical bolts slam into the inquisitor.
Adolina stabs the dottari guard while Tanjona and Farrina badly wound Sabo. Both foes fail to strike back!
Seraphina wonders what the two women are discussing. Probably some strategy that I wouldn't understand anyway. She sweeps her wand at her torso, curing herself once again.
Having used up pretty much all of her damage dealing magic, Farrina resorts to sending a tiny bolt of frost at the woman.
Adolina takes down the second dottari, while both Frrina and Tanjona wound Sabo. Her healing judgment continues to keep her on her feet but the woman is beginning to flag, as evidenced by another clumsy swing of her mace!
Seeing that his foe is flagging now, Tanjona presses his attack, trying to bring this fight to a bloody finish.
Seraphina looks at Adolina as she talks to her over her shoulder.
She responds in celestial, "വാട്ട്?!" to equal amounts of understanding.
What did she say?! Does she want me to do something else beside heal? Why is she looking at them?
Maybe she wants you to kill one? a boy says in her mind. She's probably mad you're not helping with the battle.
I am helping! I'm keeping them alive! she responds, frustrated. Fine! I'll help!
Raising her crossbow, she takes aim at the person Adolina told her to save and fires.
"Damn! She's speaking in tongues again," spits out, rolling her
eyes. "ഇല്ല! നിങ്ങൾ അവരെ ജീവനോടെ നിലനിർത്താൻ അവൾ ആഗ്രഹിക്കുന്നു!" she shouts at Seraphina.
"I hate that language. It's like spitting and mumbling at the same time."
Adolina and Seraphina both wound Sabo, but still the warden remains standing. ”Death before dishonor!” she declares as she bashed Adolina.
Tanjona makes another brutal stab, this time sure he's going to put Sabo down!
And, indeed, down Sabo goes! The inquisitor crumples over the puncture wounds in her belly, stable but unconscious. The dottari guards are stable as well.
|
"As long as they aren't dying," Adolina says, pressing one hand firmly to her bleeding side while she swigs down two of the potions. "Take their gear and see if we can find a cell to put them in. Sabinus said to do this without killing but I like the image of them waking up in their own cells."
Once the bodies are stripped she opens the door and takes a look around for any remaining guards.
There are another four dottari guards on site, keeping an eye on the prison block. You fight against them, managing to gain the upper hand and defeat them as well.
In the storage rooms, you find the gear of the four Hellknight armigers, as well as a case containing a dozen potions of cure light wounds, three potions of lesser restoration, and two potions of remove disease.
In the prison block, a few cells hold half-crazed vagabonds, while others hold three of the four armigers. They are grateful for the rescue, but tell you that the foruth armiger, Hortense Lierre, was taken to the torture chamber in the back of the prison. "We've been hearing horrible screams from within. You have to rescue her!" they implore.
Seraphina snaps to attention when Farrina speaks celestial to her, forgetting that the woman was capable of doing so. "Oh. Right. Makes more sense." and begins to set about making sure they are all stable and alive.
She gives Tanjona two potions and takes one herself, healing both of them completely.
Farrina looks over the Sabo carefully before casting another illusion to duplicate the woman's form. She spends a few moments playing with her voice, attempting to replicate the woman's rough timbre.
"Let's go bring Hortense up here for further questioning," she says.
Within the torture chamber, a grisly sight awaits--a pale, pretty young woman with long brown hair has been affixed to one of two racks in the chamber. She’s clad in rags and covered with horrific wounds—her right arm is partially flensed, and her pinky finger is missing from her left hand.
Her tormentor is a pale woman clad in wire and leather, weeping tears of blood and impaled by dozens of long, thin lancets. She smiles and addreses you. "And who is this come to my court? Carriers of lies, each of you. I smell your falsehoods. Do you seek my aid in stripping them from you? I am but just started on this subject, so you will need to wait your turns, my hopefuls...”"
"I'd rather not," the kyton replies to the challenge, turning back to her prisoner. "I'm really rather busy with my work here. Violence is wasted if it is not in pursuit of the truth..."
Since Adolina's decided to just get straight to the point (pun intended), Tanjona does likewise.
Why didn't they bother even trying to talk her down? I could have done that ... she remarks to herself.
Maybe after your last attempt at "helping" she doesn't trust you? a voice in her head responds.
I can help, watch! she says in her defense, moving up besides the others and casting bless again.
Farrina crosses her arms in annoyance. "It's clear that no one in this place appreciates a real artist and the effort she takes for her performance," she says with a shake of her head.
She makes a flippant gesture with a single finger and sends a bolt of cold towards the knife-festooned torturer.
Adolina and Tanjona both stab the kyton while her back is turned. Farrina hits her with a ray of frost, but the cold doesn’t bother her, anyway.
The fiend seems surprised that you are actually attacking her and is slow to react!
Tanjona focuses his attention with a flourish, spinning the trident before driving it at the fiend once more.
The entertain throws up her hands in disgust when the woman proves immune to cold. "Whatever. You martial types deal with her," she says as she moves around the combatants and sets to release Hortense.
Since no one was injured, Seraphina had time to raise her crossbow, take aim and fire a bolt. The shot was perfect, but that was nothing more than luck really. She reloads another bolt into the weapon, waiting for the moment she would need to start healing herself.
Adolina scores a good hit on the kyton, while Seraphina lands a lucky crossbow shot. The kyton hisses and turns on Adolina, pulling several knives out of her body and stabbing the cavalier. ”Let is see what truths hide inside your body, then!”
"That was a mistake," says Tanjona as the kyton turns its back to him.
Pushing her luck, she takes aim and fires a second time. While not as fantastic as the first shot, it's aimed quite well.
Adolina and Seraphina injure the kyton further. Despite her wounds, she continues to attack, impaling Adolina twice and shifting focus to Tanjona when the cavalier falls!
Perhaps the blood-frenzy is up because of Adolina falls as Tanjona impales the kyton.