The day comes to a close with no new issues. Cimri comes back that night empty-handed on information about her aunt.
And the night goes by without incident as well.
---
Breakfast comes and goes without issue, and as the miscreants get ready for the day, a quick "Shave and a haircut" knock finds its way to the door.
On the other side? Ingoe and his greasy mustache. "Good morning lovelies!" he says with a smirk. "I'm going to get right to business. Got a busy day at the docks. You know how y'all killed Caggan, right? And the archbaron's men made a whole show about it? Yeah, the corpse has gone missing. I suspect Fifth Sword Knight Tileavia Allamar, who runs the Church of Iomedae in the town in case you haven't got your names straight yet, may be responsible. She usually prowls the town and scolds me when I tell her I don't have her shipments." To point his statement he drops a longsword with the holy symbol of Iomedae to the ground in the jail. "Today, she's been uncharacteristically absent from the town."
With that, Ingoe offers a bow, turns around, hesitates, turns back around, picks up the sword, turns around again, and leaves with a "People'd pay good money for this. I'll try to lure some of the Reclamation to me with it; see what they know."
Sicaria pinches the bridge of her nose in frustration. ”Why? Why can’t things just be normal for once?! And why does everyone in this town have such a boner for that barkeep?!” She sighs and puts on her cloak. ”Looks like we hafta pay a visit to the church today.”
"Maybe the whole town is full of wereboars? That would explain why nobody was riled when they found out about his affliction."
Shaking his head, he packs up his gear and readies for the walk across town.
Wolfgang cocks an eyebrow at Sicaria. "I think our circumstances stopped being what anyone would call 'normal' when we started taking orders from a fiend in the shape of a giant fly with the head of a baby." He makes sure his rapier is secured in the scabbard of honing on the chance that he has to use it, slings his pack (mostly empty, now that he has moved his gear into the extra-dimensional bag strapped onto it) over his shoulders, and is ready to go.
Longacre's Church of Iomedae presides over a fenced yard with an orderly garden and a small cemetery. The church itself stands atop a 6-foot-6all, fortress-like foundation of stone, which lifts it over the churchyard and the plaza beyond. Eleven stained-glass windows decorate the church's narthex and sanctuary, each abstractly depicting one of the Acts of Iomedae. Whitewashed wooden stairs climb to a small porch and the church's only entrance. Two balconies extend from the church's face with narrow glass doors leading from each into the sanctuary.
The churchyard itself is largely empty, enclosed within a wrought-iron fence. A graveyard huddles east of the church, mostly filled with several dozen stark white grave markers. These headstones are designed to look like swords thrust into the earth.
Wolfgang pulls a small strip of leather from his pouch. He growls a few words of arcane power while rubbing the leather between his fingers.
Inky blackness rises from the shadows to cover his feet. In moments, the black has crawled up his legs, over his torso and arms, and finally engulfs his head. The tiefling has a split-second of claustrophobia before the darkness fades, once again leaving him looking slightly washed out.
Assuming the worst is going to happen, Marcianus uses his wand to cast Mage Armor on both himself and Zeke.
Looking at the church, and its fortress-like build, he shakes his head. "We have to assume the front entrances will be heavily guarded. We should take a look and see if there is a back entrance."
Looking around, there appear to be no other entrances aside from the front door and the balconies.
However, a spare tombstone, unburried in the earth, leans against the church. It states: "Bolgart Caggan. Executed by Devils." And though is contains a birth date and a dash, it does NOT have a death date.
"No back door? Well, I'm not going in the way they expect again. This balcony looks claimable."
Though not exactly elegant, Zeke quickly clambers up to the balcony, then ties off a rope to help the others to get up.
He eyes Wolfgang and motions his head toward the balcony door.
Wolfgang takes a long, close look at the tombstone. “Interesting,” he mutters quietly. “It appears as though these Iomedans were planning for Caggan’s execution even before the Archbaron announced it. Why would that be?”
He follows Zeke and the others up the rope and onto the balcony and nods at Zeke’s silent suggestion. The tiefling inspects the balcony door and doorway for signs of traps or alarms before attempting to open it.
Once he believes it is safe to open, Wolfgang steps back, bows in the general direction of the other Miscreants, and waves at the closed door in the universal gesture for “after you.” He isn’t suggesting someone in particular to open the door and go first, just ceding the honor to literally anyone else.
Zeke opens the door, attempting to make room for the other party members on the balcony.
Sicaria ties her scarf over her mouth to help her focus before she climbs Zeke’s rope.
I don’t like this…
Sicaria draws her sabres as she waits for the door to open, ready for the worst.
Sighing, Marcianus grips the rope and attempts to follow, grunting in pain as he does so.
Zelicia scans the horizon for anyone walking nearby and then walks up to the rope.
"Make some room, people!" she whisper-shouts, giving her permission to open the balcony doors to see what's inside. Once there is some space for her to be on the balcony, she climbs the rope as elegantly as she can.
Zelicia doesn't even make it up a few feet on the rope before she falls on her rear.
As the door to the chapel creaks open, the miscreants hear "...Akthi", the final word of some magical ritual. Within stands what's obviously a Cleric of Iomedae, having just finished reading a scroll, standing next to a dais. The body of Caggan, lying on the dais, begins twitching violently before rolling off of the dais.
"What in the..." says the cleric, obviously confused by the turn of events. "Lencia gave me a...No. We confirmed it was Raise Dead!"
Caggan's corpse rights itself as quickly as it fell as its skin turns deep blue, obviously the wrong color. It offers a ghostly scream, which the cleric responds to with her own, full-volume scream as she draws her sword and shield.
It's at this moment Tileavia Allamar, head of Longacre's church of Iomedae, finally notices the miscreants. She raises her sword, swinging it back and forth between the ghast and the newcomers. "YOU!" she shouts at the miscreants.
The blue Caggan hears her words and quickly turns, facing the miscreants before a long tongue sloughs out of his mouth. "With pleasure!" the creature says sloppily, drool going every which direction.
Caggan quickly barrels down the aisle before trying to bite Zeke!
Its face, instead, meets the floor as a tooth flies back towards Tileavia.
Initiative - the BOLD may act!
Active effects:
-----------------------------------------------
Caggan?
Marcianus
Sicaria
Zelicia
Wolfgang
Tileavia
"Uhh. What-? Who-? Okay, this is bull-" Zelicia sputters, trying to catch her breath from climbing the rope and observing the situation to figure out what has happened.
She uses her Misfortune hex on whatever Caggan has turned into then disappears from view with a small spin.
”Zeke, take care of the ghast!”
Sicaria slams her fist against her chest and is imbued with the warrior’s might!
Sicaria then rushes around the pews going straight for Tileavia, uttering a prayer to Achaekek along the way which suffuses itself into her sabres.
As she stops near the front pews, Sicaria puts her hands up slightly—though still wielding her sabres. ”Alright, I get that we don’t like each other—that’s evident right now—but honest question, woman to woman: What are your guys’ deal with this guy?” She motions toward the undead Caggan. ”Sure, he might be well-liked or whatever, but is he really liked enough to warrant magic as powerful as raise dead? Or are you just doing it for the principle of the thing?”
"So, THAT is what happens when you mispronounce magic spells. I shall have to keep that in mind."
He looks at Caggan and sighs. "It wasn't bad enough that we had to kill this stupid wereboar once?! Now, we have to kill an UNDEAD WEREBOAR? You holier-than-thou Iomodeans. I suppose you'll find a way to turn THIS against us too?
You realy shoud switch to Norgorber. You'd make an excellent addition."
Moving to follow Sicaria, he casts Daze at the priest.
Zeke steps to the side as he pulls out the masterwork greatsword taken from the museum. "Gods! He doesn't smell any better than when he left the jail. Couldn't you have washed him or preserved the corpse? Maybe some scented oils?"
As Caggan's claws glance harmlessly off of the magical barriers, Zeke brings the greatsword around in an attempt to take off the ghast's head, but holding his nose away apparently affects his aim.
“I’m pretty sure you aren’t supposed animate the dead without a permit from the Archbaron,” Wolfgang snarls at the priest, ignoring his understanding of Tileavia’s mistake. “It can’t have been an accident, or you wouldn’t have put his head back onto the body first, would you?”
The tiefling swings his bow off his shoulder and takes a step forward to make sure he gets a clear shot at whatever Caggan has become.
Or are you just doing it for the principle of the thing?
"First arrested, first dead. He also makes really good chili. I don't expect you to understand."
"I’m pretty sure you aren’t supposed animate the dead without a permit from the Archbaron"
"A-A-Aaaanimate!!!??? So that's what happened!"
----
Zelicia attempts to misfortune Caggan's ghast!
The ghast finds itself particularly unlucky for a few rounds.
Sicaria moves forward and buffs.
Zeke draws the greatsword and misses completely.
Wolfgang, however, manages to pierce an arrow through the ghast's shoulder!
"I can assure you, this is my fault and I will take blame, but I suspect you'll kill me before I get the chance!" Tileavia shouts with some kind of renewed vigor. "Faithful of Iomedae! Now is your time to rise up and destroy corruption!"
In the meantime, Tileavia quickly vanishes behind the curtains on the "stage" before she begins muttering some kind of prayer to Iomedae.
As soon as she disappears, 5 people burst from the room to the west brandishing shields and longswords!
"For the reclamation!!!" they shout in unison before charging into the room. Some of them look questionably at Caggan's ghast, but they don't attack the undead.
Orange (after opening the door) runs past first, provoking from Wolfgang. Too bad Wolfgang has his bow out!
Red quickly moves around Wolfgang, followed by green, as they approach Sicaria and Marcianus!
Meanwhile, Blue and Yellow move to flank Wolfgang and attack!
The ghast then licks its lips and again tries to go for Zeke, this time wiht a full attack!
The ghast finds far too much misfortune and magical defense in the way to make any kind of contact.
Initiative - the BOLD may act!
Active effects:
-----------------------------------------------
Caggan? (-2)
Marcianus
Sicaria
Zelicia
Wolfgang (-9)
Tileavia
Other Iomedaeans
"Damn cultists! Your leader betrays her vows by animating the undead and you blindly come to follow her!"
Zeke continues attempting to kill the ghast.
Seeing himself in danger, Marcianus looks back at Sicaria. "Give me some room"
Seeing himself in danger, Marcianus looks back at Sicaria. "Give me some room"
Sicaria utters magical incantations as her armor glows crimson. ”With pleasure.”
Hell-bent on the Iomedaean priestess, Sicaria sprints toward the stage , dashing behind the curtain and stopping right next to Tileavia. ”Sorry, sister; no casting allowed!”
Zeke carves into the ghast, almost splitting the body in half, but the creature still stands.
Sicaria reaches Tileavia and hits!
BUT the priestess continues her spell, wincing in pain!
Initiative - the BOLD may act!
Active effects:
-----------------------------------------------
Caggan? (-16)
Marcianus (Zeke has acted)
Sicaria
Zelicia
Wolfgang (-9)
Tileavia (-7)
Other Iomedaeans
ADDENDUM:
Initiative - the BOLD may act!
Active effects:
-----------------------------------------------
Caggan? (-16)
Marcianus (Zeke has acted)
Sicaria (-4)
Zelicia
Wolfgang (-9)
Tileavia (-7)
Other Iomedaeans
Zelicia tumbles over the pews in front of her, surprised to land on her feet, and sprints to the stage. She looks back to see if anyone saw her awesome feat of not falling over, forgetting she is invisible for a moment. She turns around pouting then a slight blush creeps up on her cheeks as she remembers.
Taking a step back, Marcianus risks an attack and casts Burning Hands, catching the three Imodeans in the blast.
"Damn it! Is there no end to these Iomedan boot-lickers?
Feeling surrounded, Wolfgang decides the only way out is through. He drops down between the pews and rolls away from the two knights, towards the reanimated Caggan. He springs up next to the newborn ghast, rapier in hand, and lunges at the creature.
Zelicia fumbles through the pews with a double move.
Marcianus casts burning hands!
Red toughs it out, but green spends a bit longer dousing the flames.
Wolfgang goes to tumble, but provokes anyway...
And Wolfgang drops to the ground, bleeding out.
---
"My faith will not falter!" shouts Tileavia as her spell completes. A wolf suddenly materializes behind Sicaria, the holy symbol of Iomedae glowing bright on its forehead. "You will be defeated! Here and now!"
"BORF!"
Sicaria expertly dodges the wolf.
As sicaria turns around, she quickly slides to the side to avoid a longsword of force as well.
"YOU DEVIL!" she shouts. "Hold still!"
---
Back in the main room, the Iomedaeans all turn to Marcianus and Zeke.
One of 'em manages to stab Marcianus, but the others telegraph their attacks far too much.
And then...
The whistle of an arrow echoes through the room.
Both the conscious miscreants and the Iomedaeans turn to see, and there, standing atop the other patio, looking through the doors, is Cimri, wielding a longbow.
And then red's body hits the floor.
"Figured you could use some help. But also, let's finish up here, there's a more pressing matter..." says Cimri, mildly out of breath.
And lastly...
Caggan's ghast bites into Zeke, though Zeke resists the worst of the effects.
Initiative - the BOLD may act!
Active effects:
-----------------------------------------------
Caggan's Ghast (-16)
Marcianus (M: -10; Z: -5)
Sicaria (-4)
Zelicia
Wolfgang (-19; Dying;)
Tileavia (-7)
Other Iomedaeans (green: -7)
Cimri
Sicaria steps away from being flanked and glares back at Tileavia. ”You wish I was a devil, sweetheart.”
Taking another step back, Marcianus glances behind himself at his limited room to escape. "Zeke! Finish up with Caggan quickly please!"
Casting Defensively, he summons Grease underneath the feet of the Imodeans attacking him.
"I'm a little busy over here. Find a way to get yourself out of there."
He swings at the ghast again.
The flow of blood from the tiefling slows to a trickle and stops.
Zelicia pops into view as her invisibility goes away, turns back to see Wolf fall to the floor and curses herself under her breath at running to the other end of the church prematurely.
"Hang in there, Wolf. Let me finish what I started" mumbling to herself. She moves the curtain to come into the back room and casts Ear-Piercing Scream on Tileavia.
Cicaria slashes viciously with both sabres, but both merely find the woman's shield.
Marc trips both Iomedaeans near him.
Zeke cleaves the ghast in two and steps.
Zelicia screams as the wolf brings her to the ground next to it, gnawing on her leg as it does so, but the scream magically reinforces itself in Tileavia's ears.
And Tileavia clutches her ears!!!
----
"WOOF!"
The wolf continues it's last commanded action and tries, again, to bite Sicaria.
And like before, Sicaria moves her legs out of the way before the wolf can grab them.
The tripped Iomedaeans both stand and stare at Caggan's corpse. "GLORY OR DEATH!" they shout with some renewed vigor as they all converge on Zeke!
Zeke expertly dodges each and every attack. It would probably help if they all attacked at the same time instead of one after the other...
Cimri's arrow flies wide, clattering harmlessly into the wall near Marcianus.
Initiative - the BOLD may act!
Active effects:
-----------------------------------------------
Marcianus (Z: -5)
Sicaria (-4)
Zelicia (-5)
Wolfgang (-19; Stable;)
Tileavia (-7)
Other Iomedaeans (green: -7)
Cimri
Sicaria steps toward the wolf to try and assist Zelicia.
*
Zeke grins. Now that Marcianus is not under threat, he is more confident that he won't get dispelled. "Wrong answer, fools. The correct answer would have been to throw down your weapons and flee."
He swings at orange first, dropping the Imodean and follows with a step back.
Calling up his elemental fires, Marcianus grunts with pain, then moves a bit closer, attempting to finish the job with the green Imodean.
Zelicia stays on the ground and casts Misfortune on Tileavia. She then activates her invisibility with a wave goodbye to the wolf.
Sicaria manages to hit the wolf once.
Zeke drops orange.
Marc misses green.
And Zelicia manages a successful misfortune, followed by vanishing from the confused wolf.
Tileavia makes no effort to keep her speech intelligible as she simply roars with righteous might, drawing her sword and swinging at Sicaria.
But Zelicia tugs on the strand of fate, causing the dog to back up and bump into Sicaria, successfully pushing the Assassin out of harms way.
The dog wimpers as it also tries to attack Sicaria.
The dog misses too.
---
Back in the chapel, the Iomedaeans all swing for Zeke in what appears to be some sort of blind rage.
None of them are able to pierce the eidolon's armor.
Cimri drops her bow and darts into the chapel.
"You guys smelling the smoke, yet?" she asks, obviously directed towards the miscreants.
Green drops unconscious as well.
Cimri decides to add, "I assume Tileavia's in the back? Let's take care of her and get outta here quickly."
Initiative - the BOLD may act!
Active effects:
-----------------------------------------------
Marcianus (Z: -5)
Sicaria (-4)
Zelicia (-5)
Wolfgang (-19; Stable;)
Tileavia (-9; Wolf: -8)
Other Iomedaeans
Cimri
Cimri decides to add, "I assume Tileavia's in the back? Let's take care of her and get outta here quickly."
"Working on it!"
Sicaria steps into the corner of the room to avoid being flanked then swings her sabres at the priestess.
*
Sicaria lets out a set of double slashes and cleaves straight through Tileavia's armor. As blood begins to pour from the armor, the woman's eyes roll back into her head and she falls to the ground. "You will...not...win....." is all she manages to croak out before falling unconscious.
Initiative - the BOLD may act!
Active effects:
-----------------------------------------------
Marcianus (Z: -5)
Sicaria (-4)
Zelicia (-5)
Wolfgang (-19; Stable;)
Other Iomedaeans
Cimri
"Fire? Animating the dead wasn't enough? Have they gone and set the town on fire now? How will that prove their righteousness?
I am amazed that Iomedea hasn't deserted these fools already."
Marcianus sends another bolt of flame at Yellow before the flames sputter out.
Arching an eyebrow as the flames nearly singe his beard, Zeke simply keeps swinging, directing his fury at blue.
Wolfgang abides.