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He better pray he doesn't get infected. I would consider it a solemn bonus duty to lay him low. The paladin looks askance at the tiefling. Considering how dangerous this plague is, I may have to do it anyway. Be proactive. It's the only way to be sure. And at this point, I might not even lose any sleep over it.
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The cultists, too absorbed in their awful feast, don't notice you until it's too late for some. Korum dispatches his foe with a single swipe, killing him instantly. Dana's spell knocks two zombies and the strange woman flat. Unfortunately, Vulpina fires at the same time, and the bullet whizzes over her target's head.
With surprising speed, the woman picks herself up. "You dare strike Vondrella Mahesto?! Scum! Fiendblood Covenant, to me!" Nearly half of the participants have fled the scene, leaving but four opponents. The one remaining human besides Vondrella looks uneasy, considering Korum's power. So she runs over to protect her mistress instead, throwing a pitiful punch at Torku.
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Torku brushes off the spell’s effect with barely a thought. ”First off, what kind of name is Vondrella?” he asks incredulously. ”That’s almost as bad as naming your poor child Korum. Second, really? Fiendblood Covanent? Do any of you have fiendish heritage? Or the name just sounded suave and dangerous to your underdeveloped brains?“ Tail swishing angrily, the tiefling stabs at the woman with his blade. ”A thought for your next life - celestials are much more forgiving of such appropriations. Of course, they don’t often find themselves spit on and run out of town by ‘holy warriors’ who are ‘just doing their job’, you know. That special treatment is apparently reserved for fiendsblood children!”
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Torku stabs Vondrella as she leaps to her feet. "Scum! The nerve, to pass my name between your unclean lips," she spits again, preparing to counterattack with a scythe. "You know nothing of me, of my selection by the Pallid Princess herself, my mastery of artifacts thought of as too dangerous to even see by doddering oafs like-"
Her sentence is interrupted as the tiefling skewers her again. She collapses over the enchanted blade, close to but not with her beloved Urgathoa. The last cultist looks ready to bolt upon seeing this happen right next to her. Only the two zombies remain in the fight, and they still lie on the ground.
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Torku watches the last cultist flee. "Oh no you don't - no chance we're going to let you get away and infect more people and start this whole thing over again." He darts off like a shot from Vulpina's pistol, a faint shimmer of energy cloaking his body and pushing leaves and branches aside before he can touch them. As he comes to a halt in front of the fleeing woman, he levels his bloody blade at her face. "On the ground now, and our holy warrior back there will tie you up instead of killing you. Probably. I have no such reservations myself if you decide to be stupid and flee."
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Dana's missiles fell the last cultist even as she enters the cover of the trees. Torku is there in an instant, whether to finish the job or keep her from the Boneyard. Doran pummels the last zombie, which doesn't go down, but it will momentarily.
Makras looks over the table to see most of the food is raw meat, rotten and spoiled produce, or flamebloom flowers pushed into skull shapes. Not that any of that necessarily stops him...
With silence thankfully returned to the clearing, you are able to look around freely. Vondrella still lives, if you want her to answer questions. The statue pouring water is obviously what you sent to likely find, Isandrea's Basin. You have heard enough about it and learned some yourselves during your time researching a cure. For the moment, it still flows with water that looks clogged with silt despite appearing from nowhere.
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Dana looks at the table and is clearly disturbed!
”I have to admit that I often am completely surprised by the darkness that can shroud the minds of mortals! And obviously also those of the gods because this one was praying to a higher being who probably also guided her hands!“ she says shaking her head.
”I am just glad that this group was here to prevent suffering. Thanks... I hope to remember you!“ she says smiling.
”But Makras, I’m just wondering why you were on our side all this time!?!“ she says with an atypical sly smile.
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Torku keeps his own thoughts on trusting paladins to himself as he walks the last cultist back to the other Pathfinders at the point of his rapier. "Someone tie her up," he adds, blade still raised in case she foolishly decides to try her luck. "And let's grab that statue. Maybe someone at the lodge can figure out how to purify it. Or at the very least turn it off."
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Got it...Doran says, tying up the crazed cult leader. He makes sure to gag her as well, not taking any chances of her casting a spell.
I could use a drink of 3 when we're back at the lodge...and a hot bath...just to make sure all this plague is gone... the burly Taldan says as he lets out a sigh of relief.
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Makras slips his gore-encrusted pick back into the leather loop on his belt. He sighs. "These poor, pathetic fools. They had a noble goal! But the truth eluded them. When the end of days comes, which it will, mortals will neither stop nor cause it. For that would give meaning to the utter absurdity of our existence!"
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Your return to the Cathedral of Aroden is thankfully quick and peaceful. Venture-Captain Brackett looks relieved to see you back. He steps back a pace upon seeing Isandrea's Basin, but quickly recovers, calling for a resident mage to seal it away and divine its properties.
"Queen Syntira of Darkmoon Wood was evidently eager to sing your praises, Pathfinders," he smiles after your initial report. "She saw fit to contact my via magic to tell me about your cure. Something she didn't even do that when telling me about this emergency in the first place, even. She isn't the first to commend you agents specifically, so would I be overstepping to assume we won't have any more problems in the area?"
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Makras slips his gore-encrusted pick back into the leather loop on his belt. He sighs. "These poor, pathetic fools. They had a noble goal! But the truth eluded them. When the end of days comes, which it will, mortals will neither stop nor cause it. For that would give meaning to the utter absurdity of our existence!"
Dana thinks about Makras' statement and the logic is outstanding.
"Good, then we seem to be on the same side after all! May we be lucky and this end comes later ... much later!" she says and looks at the group.
**
Vulpina tips her head back and forth noncommitally. ”We were thorough... but it would be foolish not to keep an ear turned in that direction regardless,” she cautions.
"Yes, I agree with Vulpina's conclusion."
She bows in Tien fashion to the VC and the group.
"I hope we will not forget each other."