Lotti raises an eyebrow and nods approvingly at Rose’s flawless vocal technique. I’m not quite certain how she hoped that would change their behavior, but admirable initiative regardless. Carefully she wraps a veil of magic around her shoulders and vanishes from sight. Only the most discerning of ears might notice the sound of small footsteps over the howls of the dead.
Lotti vanishes out of sight and moves out of immediate harm's way. Marius almost destroys another ghoul with a well-placed strike, while Lisa remains ready to assist the others. Konstiantina quickly finishes off the undead that Marius had wounded, giving Rose an opening to fire a bolt through the doorway into the emaciated flesh of another one. The projectile enters through on eye socket with such force that it shatters the skull, and the creature collapses.
Chillingly, the remaining ghouls seem to receive the death of their fellows with glee. "Yesss! More for meeeee!" moans one as it rushes over the corpses to reach the tantalizing buffet of living flesh. One of them manages to scratch Konstiantina, but the paladin shrugs off the paralyzing effect. Another one rushes through the gauntlet, only to be cut down by Marius and Konstiantina, while the third one slips on the grease in its rush to get through.
Red = uninjured
Orange = uninjured, prone
"Don't fret now - it's just me." Lotti again weaves magic into a blanket of safety and draws it around Rose's waist like a skirt.
"None for you, wretch. Go to Pharasma's judgement."
Lisa scowls as Konstiantina is injured by the undead and moves to heal her but hesitates... The would seems minor... perhaps it was best to just let things play out for now?
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"Seems like these ghouls are too mindless or ravenous to be liable to distractions, even potential threats," Rose concludes, in between admiring the brutal efficiency of both Marius' and Konstiantina's swordplay.
"Don't fret now - it's just me." Lotti again weaves magic into a blanket of safety and draws it around Rose's waist like a skirt.
"Thank you," Rose's voice eminates from behind Lotti as her invisible self seeks a better position to her front.
"Seems like these ghouls are too mindless or ravenous to be liable to distractions, even potential threats," Rose concludes, in between admiring the brutal efficiency of both Marius' and Konstiantina's swordplay.
"Don't fret now - it's just me." Lotti again weaves magic into a blanket of safety and draws it around Rose's waist like a skirt.
"Thank you," Rose's voice eminates from empty air as her invisible self seeks a better position to aid in closing the fight. Advancing, she steps over the fresh corpse left by Marius, brushing past him as she whispers: "I've got this one."
She takes careful aim at the remaining undead glibbering in the grease and finishes him with a single thrust straight through the skull.
Between them, Rose and Marius make short work of the two remaining ghouls, and the group has the opportunity to examine the room in more detail. North of the doorway is a well, the water in it stagnant and fetid. The pump mechanism has clearly been modified to accommodate a rope that
once passed through a small slot carved into the wall. The rest of the room contains what must have been machinery and supplies, now decayed beyond recognition.
"To state the obvious, it will take a lot of work and money to get it all operational again," Rose comments, seeing the unfortunate state the machinery was in. "More importantly for now, it seems this more powerful evil presence was missing. Is it likely that it made these undead? I wonder what sort of creature that would be or why it wouldn't come out to help them. Is it waiting to lure us in...?"
She trails off as she watches the unexplored room to the north, reloading Dignity's Barb with the special bolts she'd been preparing earlier.
Konstiantina enters the large room carefully, golden light glowing from the wound that the ghoul opened down her arm, so that the flesh heals over without her even glancing at it. Blazing blade held aloft, she moves with certainty toward the greater emanation of evil.
"This way," she whispers. "The fight's not over yet."
"Yes, the Lurker yet remains," Marius flicks his falcata to clean some of the gore from its blade, then moves to follow the paladin.
Lisa rolls her eyes as the party proceeds further in. "Oh really? Must we? Undead really aren't my thing and this place is truly wretched... Ohhh fine if you insist but after this I'm taking a nice long scented bath and Desna help anyone who tries to get in my way!" She huffs.
Rose allows herself a smile despite the imminent next fight. "That sounds lovely, along with a nice cup of warm tea. Let's hope the bath is in working condition! And perhaps... if the kitchen is too, I could bake a celebratory pie. I'm quite looking forward to just being able to cook something whenever I like."
Konstiantina can still feel that stronger presence, but as she moves towards it, the creature seems to be moving away. Entering the northern room reveals its walls to be lined with rotten vegetation and waterlogged pieces of wood, and painted with symbols of Arazni - a strange sight in an undead lair, to be sure.
An emaciated figure wearing the rags of what at some point must have been fine funeral garments, is huddled in the corner farthest away from the passage that enters from the well room. Her face is gone, burned away, and her wispy white hair floats around her skull.
She makes a warding motion with one hand as Konstiantina approaches, gnawing on the other. "Noooo," she moans, "not yooouuuu."
Marius draws up short when he sees the symbols of Arazni, his eyebrows drawing together in surprised puzzlement. "The Red Crusader...? But why?" He turns his attention from the walls to the faceless figure. "Who and what are you?"
Puzzled by the creature, her behavior and the strange runes, Rose slightly lowers her crossbow. "'Not you?' Do you... know this woman, Konstiantina?" she asks the paladin, her voice laced with uncertainty.
A tragic story. Lotti’s face is perfectly expressionless as she regards the symbols on the walls. Used by both those she trusted and those she’d never met. Calmly she turns her attention to the figure in the room.
Lisa recoils at the sight of the faceless creature cowering before them. "Ugh! Disgusting! This place is just a treasure trove of the gross and the deranged now isn't it?" She scowls. "Konstiantina this is the aroma of malevolence you picked up on, yes? Let's just put it out of it's misery and be done with it I can't stand another minute in this awful place!" She growls.
Konstiantina steels her heart even as her gut twists with disgust. She knows nothing but that this being is evil, and as such, must be laid to rest.
"We bring you peace," she whispers as she raises her glowing sword. "Rest in Pharasma's mercy."
And with that she goes to attack.
To Marius and Lotti, it is apparent that this is a ghast, after all. She answers his other question, her burned-off face turning towards one of the symbols drawn on the wall. "In life... I was a crusader." She points at Konstiantina. "A paladin. But the hunger, oooooohhh, how I hunger!"
"We bring you peace," she whispers as she raises her glowing sword. "Rest in Pharasma's mercy."
"Yesss, peace," the undead woman hisses, but then clutches her head and moans. "Forgive me, his pull is too strong." With that, she launches herself at the group, snarling.
"'Wait! Please; 'His'? Who made you-?!"
Unfortunately, that was as far as she got before fightinf broke out, if it could have even been avoided. Resigned to the task ahead and not wanting to endanger her friends, Rose fires twice, loading the special arrows she'd prepared beforehand...
The bolts fly and seem to impact the walls around it - which causes an explosion of dusted bits of wall to fly through the area.
Konstiantina's heart wrenches at the revelation, but it only firms her resolve. As the woman charges, her burning blade lights even brighter, and she moves in to engage. Iomedae's blessings sing through her veins, and her metallic blond hair ripples and flows as if in a strong wind. Her eyes light up with a burning radiance, as if they are windows to an inner sun, and she moves with lethal precision to land a devastating blow on their foe.
As Konstiantina strides towards the undead woman, she is almost overwhelmed by the horrific stench that surrounds her, bile rising in her throat as she fights to control the urge to vomit. Wrestling down a wave of nausea, she strikes, the righteous power of her goddess guiding and empowering her. What would Iomedae say, to see a paladin of her former goddess fallen thus?
The target of her devastating attack unleashes a raw, primal scream, as the blessed energy courses through her. She retaliates in a frenzy of biting and clawing, all her training forgotten, driven only by pain and hunger.
Lisa:
Lotti:
Marius:
Rose:
Ghast: -22 HP
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"Oh, how the mighty have fallen!" Lisa sneers at the revelation that this horrid creature had once been a servant of the divine. Truthfully there was perhaps a small sense of smug satisfaction at knowing that even a paladin was not completely above falling to corruption.
Still, falling to corruption and actually falling are two entirely different things and Konstiantina was looking far too close to the latter for Lisa's liking.
The courtesan rushes forward making obscure gestures and speaking in a strange tongue. "Come now Lady Mokei surely you aren't about to let some washed up has-been show you up? Let's just top you off so you can do that goddess of yours proud. Cura ferite moderate." Lisa goads as a sickly white light comes off her hand entirely sealing her wounds as if they had never been there in the first place.
Bile rises up the back of the paladin's throat, and her whole body shudders at the horrific stench that washes over her like a tidal wave of soured grease. But Konstiantina holds fast to her faith, her need to bring rest to this pitiful creature, and heals her own wounds even as she strikes back.
His saw set in a determined line, Marius advances on Konstiantina's heels towards the ghast. "No one deserves this fate, a hero of the Shining Crusade least of all. Go to your rest, it's well-deserved."
Rose looks back to Lotti, though it seemed Konstiantina especially had this and might not really need the help. [b]"Can you do that
An invisbile Rose brushes past Konstiantina and attempts to strike with her rapier, completing the surround the group had on the undead.
Not seeing a safe way to proceed forward or an easy way to line up a shot, Rose stays in place near the back, and tries her best with Dignity's barb.
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"Can you do that..."
Lotti raises and eyebrow and smiles innocently as she waits for Rose to finish. When the noblewoman doesn't, she nods encouragingly and gestures for her to continue. Finally she sighs dramatically. "Yes, yes, I can help my lady with that." She winks at the vanishing figure before making a shooing motion with her hand.
While Lisa heals Konstiantina, Marius tries to strike the ghast, but her stench is so powerful that the trajectory of the falcata falters, and chips the door frame behind her instead. With Lotti's help, Rose can approach undetected and deliver a mortal blow to the undead woman, who collapses with a last mournful, drawn-out moan. Now that she is still, the holy symbol of Arazni is visible on a chain around her neck - a silver winged sword on a field of red agate.
Placing a hand over his mouth and nose to try and block out the smell, Marius breathes as shallowly as he can manage as he surveys the room. "This isn't finished," he wheezes, sheathing the falcata. "She will return unless certain rites are completed. Help me...get her outside..."
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Retching at the stench up close, Rose watches the corpse and looks at Marius with eyes that silently plead 'do we really have to' but admit defeat soon afterwards. Glad for her pair of thick leather gloves, which she would burn alongside the body straight away, she nods. "We can't *cough* leave her to this fate. Especially since she'd *cough* endanger others. I - oh gods this stench! - I brought some things to make a pretty big fire. Thought it might be useful in some way..."
She leaves it at that and begins helping Marius drag the corpse, taking special care to not touch it with anything but the gloves. "Let's look around for those magical auras when we're done." she adds, when they're about to leave the room.
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Lotti does an impeccable job of appearing unbothered by the smell as she approaches the corpse. “Yes, a fire should be enough to rid her body of this curse. As for lighting it…” She gestures towards Lisa with one hand. “Perhaps someone who’s always lighting up a pipe would have the spark we need?”
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"Oh joy, the only thing I enjoy more than the smell of rot and garbage... burning rot and garbage." Lisa shakes her head lamenting every additional moment they had to remain in this accursed place.
"Fine, I'll light it just set up the burnable materials and I'll take care of it."
Waiting for the materials to be assembled, Lisa kneels by the rotting corpse at the end with a grimace of disgust, even though she seems to be taking the smell better than the others she by no means found it pleasant.
"I'll handle this you just grab any magic trinkets you can from the pump house... as for this..." she glares at the body of the undead with disdain.
"It'll be a snap."
Lisa snaps her fingers causing a spark which immediately sets the kindling aflame and quickly engulfs the body.
Lisa backs away quickly covering her nose. "Now let's be done with this, there is a lavender scented bath with my name on it back at the estate and I shan't keep it waiting."
In a nook near the pump stairs, guided by Lotti's arcane detection, there is a small hoard of coin and items, some of them still partially coated in canal muck. As the group searches the interior of the pump house, another magical aura makes its presence felt, just at the edge of detection, in the room where the ghouls were slumbering. The direction is down, however, so whatever it is it must be lying at the bottom of the well.
Meanwhile, the fire engulfs the corpse of the undead woman, burning fitfully and spewing a great cloud of black smoke skywards, darkening the air even more as night falls upon the marsh.
"I hope Pharasma judges her for her deeds before she was turned into a ghast, rather than after," Rose says, as she watches the remains of the corrupted paladin burn. "You say something about her made her stand out as someone involved with the Shining Crusade, Marius? That would make her over a thousand years old... the chances of running into her at this village in the middle of nowhere seem so slim. Are you absolutely sure? If not, and she was turned more recently... then there could be a necromancer on the loose here somewhere. With her death, we now have no leads. I pray this doesn't come back to bite us."
When the group searches the pump station and the remaining magical item is detected at the bottom of the defunct well, Rose stares into the unfathomable depths of the murky water. She swallows once. "...If we're going to get whatever it is, I'd recommend going as a group and being wary of underwater danger. I... am a decent swimmer, better if I use a potion. But I'd really not like going there alone, and invisible up front just in case if we have any left," she consults Lotti on the last bit.
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"A thousand years old...yes." Marius masters his reaction to the smell and kneels next to the fallen crusader. "I would like to know her story, how she came to be here. I hope she bound in a better place, and that the Lady of Fate treats her kindly."
Outside the pumphouse, the nobleman rolls up his sleeves and sets to work gathering or cutting brushwood, anything that would burn. He accepts the others' assistance gratefully and even bites his tongue when Lisa complains about the smell and wanting to get her bath in. When the pyre is built he helps lay the ghast's remains upon it.
"I know few prayers of the Red Crusader, and I'm not certain they would reach Her regardless. Your goddess is gone, at least as you knew her. I hope she is able to see you as a kindred spirit even now, as you were both heroes turned to undeath through no fault of your own, and speed your passage through the Boneyard to your final reward. I pray that you find yourself welcomed in the halls of Heaven. Perhaps, if I am fortunate, I will hear your story there. May ebon wings guard you on your journey."
Stepping back, he gives Lisa a nod. "Alright. Let's head back."
+ + + +
Staring skeptically at the indicated well, Marius glances at their other spellcasters. "Couldn't we magic up an elemental or something to retrieve it for us? Or, I don't know, ask the otyugh to do it?"
Lotti raises an eyebrow in response, but refrains from asking the young lord if he'd ever seen any of them summon anything remotely animate. "Barring the question of if the otyugh would even fit in the well, it seems quite bold of you to assume it wouldn't eat whatever's down there." She peers over the edge and concentrates for a moment. "But let's take a look first before anyone gets their clothes wet."
The magical lights illuminate a little of the murky water, revealing the well to be around 60 feet deep.
Rose is silent throughout Marius' prayer for the paladin, folding her hands and nodding solemnly. "That was beautiful. I'm sure she would have liked that, brief as it was." She says afterwards, and nods to him appreciatively.
"That, and the Otyugh didn't listen earlier when we asked the same thing," Rose adds to Lotti's voice. When no real new information is discovered, she inches forward and takes out a bit of Jerky from her rations, then throws it on the water's surface. "More than one way to check if something out to eat us is down there..." she muses, and waits to see if something happened to the drifting meat.
The water ripples slightly as the jerky lands, but no further movement is seen.
“Then unless someone wants to get out a fishing pole and pretend this is a carnival game, I would recommend making a note of this and returning later.” Lotti bends down to pet a distraught Wobblekins before continuing. “After all, the pump isn’t going to fix itself.”
"Indeed." Agrees Lisa clearly keen to be as far from this smelly, slimy, and over-all awful place.
"We should be moving on as I, for one, don't fancy taking a dip in that filth and have no magics that would aid us in such an endeavor regardless. She waves her hand dismissively before withdrawing her tobacco pipe from an undisclosed location and lighting it up with a snap filling the room with the pungent scent of exotic herbs burning away to ash.
"I could make more water though, if you like."
Konstiantina peers down into the well in turn.
"For what it's worth, I don't sense any evil down there. So at the worst we'd be dealing with something like a swarm of marrow leeches or a giant intestinal worm."
She stretches and then sheathes her blade. "We have to decide what we'll do about the otyugh, however. I don't think it's responsible to just leave it wandering around."
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"I could make more water though, if you like."
"So you could wash clean whoever would go..." Rose mutters, peering into the well alongside the paladin and Lotti, and sighing. "I don't think we can can leave this to others. If something is down there, it would endanger them, and I wouldn't ask others what I am unwilling to risk myself. Also, we don't know what would happen to this building with the ghouls gone. This might be the only chance we get at it. So... I'll go. One moment, and I'll get something to help."
She jogs outside, and returns a minute or so later with a bag containing a couple of potions, a rope and two sets of swimming fins. "Brought it along just in case. The fins allow even novice swimmers to move about. The potions give one minute or so of breathable air. The green vial protects against any diseases this water might have. Enough for me and one other person. The rope is for us to signal up in case we run into something unexpected. "
Rose looks around to see whom else might might take up the plight.
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Konstiantina nods firmly. "I'm not afraid of getting wet, and it's been longer than I can remember since I've been ill. I'll follow you down."
So saying she takes the potions and fins.
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When Rose returns with her bundle of supplies Marius raises one eyebrow at her, expression incredulous. "You just...had those on hand?" He looks back at Konstiantina. "Do we really want whatever's down there this badly?" When the answer appears to be 'yes' Marius lets out a sigh that builds into a groan and takes the rope. "Very well then, but at the first sign of trouble I'm hauling you back up here--there are aquatic ghouls too, and worse things."
Rose's unlikely preparations and the arcane assistance from Lisa and Lotti come in handy, allowing Konstiantina and her make it to the bottom of the well without incident. There, half-buried in the thick muck, lies a beautifully crafted spear, its surface unmarred by the passage of time. The name of the weapon is carved in an elegant script along the shaft - Godspike.
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Lisa visibly shakes at Konstiantina's words. "Oh, only marrow leeches or a giant intestinal worm? Only that? Lovely." The courtesan quakes.
When Rose produces all the equipment they will need for this endeavor Lisa looks just as incredulous as Marius as the Lady Talbot somehow seemed to be prepared for whatever they could possibly need.
How is this possible? Lisa wondered.
It was time to test a theory. "Raesilia darling since I hear that you're a woman who can get things... I need vodka and dirty playing cards." She raises her brow at the woman and holds a hand out expectantly to see if her theory was correct.
Regardless afterwards she cats her strength enhancements on the entire party to ensure that whatever was at the bottom they would have no issues pulling it out.
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When Rose returns with her bundle of supplies Marius raises one eyebrow at her, expression incredulous. "You just...had those on hand?"
Rose flashes a mysterious smile and gives a cheeky wink. "Overly complicated planning."
After a minute or so, Rose and Konstiantina resurface with the beautiful spear, which was radiating quite potent divine energy even now. Once out of the water and doused in plenty of clean water by Lisa, she takes a towel from her backpack and stares at the object in awe when Lotti identifies its incredible potency - and value. It was a shame that it was so unwieldy and hard to use, unfortunately...
It was time to test a theory. "Raesilia darling, since I hear that you're a woman who can get things... I need vodka and dirty playing cards." She raises her brow at the woman and holds a hand out expectantly to see if her theory was correct.
The Talbot scion raises an eyebrow, amused. "If I happen to have this... I believe It only fair that Konstiantina and I have the first baths when we return, no? Also, good wodka isn't cheap. You will reimburse me for such, right? I'd take it on good faith but I've recently learned such agreements do not always work out." She glances briefly at Marius and slightly narrows her blue eyes.
Should Lisa assent to this, Rose walks out the door to her pack outside and rummages through it for a minute or so before returning with the exact specified bottle of liquor. "Your favorite, I believe. I actually had one for a while in case we needed to-" She blushes slightly."-Well, bribe you. Fortunately, you turned out to be such a nice person that It doesn't feel right to hold onto that plan." The bottle is accompanied with a deck of playing cards that had seen beter days. "And those are mine, actually. It... didn't get along well with the swamp, as you can imagine. Hm, perhaps I am not that good at planning, after all?" She finishes pleasantly.