The linnorm's magma singes Gaelan and covers Zed, but thanks to your fire protections, you are each unharmed.
Sola scowls at her own slow reaction, and flies closer to her comrades so that her banner may continue to inspire them. As she moves, she launches into a rousing tale about a band of villagers that worked together to kill a drake that was eating their livestock.
Gaelan sees the molten magma on his skin and thanks Aja’s foresight to protect them from fire. The elf sees the sorceress approach him and smiles after she invokes her magic. ”So I can fly now, huh? Cool! Thanks!” The paladin flies toward the dragón and swipes at him with his Blade, using his momentum to drive the blade through its scales!
Zed watched the dragon rise, and poorly tries to shield himself from the deluge of magma. Luckily he is able to shrug it off like harmless sludge, and he grabs a potion from his pack to drink.
Round 2: Hagmouth
The elven paladin crashes into the linnorm and rips a chunk of flesh, searing Hagmouth with his holy smite! Realizing that with a flying paladin after it, escape was impossible, the linnorm reared back and vowed to rip the paladin to shreds!
Gaelan gasps in pain as the linnorm tears into him, but it only fuels his conviction. "Iomedae has judged you not worthy!"
As many enemies have learned the hard way previously, you never want to piss of a smiting paladin! The elf's first two strikes rip through the linnorm's scales, causing it to howl in pain, and at the end, Gaelan drives his blade through the wingless dragon's eye, ending its life! Hagmouth plummets 50' down and hits the ground with a thud.
As it dies, a trail of fire erupts from the linnorm's chest and engulfs the elven paladin. Bolstered by his devotion to Iomedae, the paladin emerges unharmed as the fire fizzles away.
Before you can comment, a human female emerges from Hagmouth's cavern, looking a little disheveled, wearing an insignia of a silver raven on her chest. She rubs her wrists a little, looks at the dead dragon, and comments, "Good riddance!"
Zed continues to be grateful for Aja's medical protection, for quick reflexes had never been his strong suit.
Zed immedietly narrows his eyes at the new appearance. He did not appear at all trustworthy of the newcomer. "Gaelan, move behind us and recover your wounds." He says protectively, moving forward to place himself between the woman and the rest of the party.
Zephra bows a bit stiffly to the party. "How do you do. Your help was lucky, at least for me. Pharasma be praised. Um, what brings you here? Are you, are you with the Silver Ravens, or somebody else? Are we enemies or friends?" She rubs her sore wrists idly, but it is obvious that her reflexes are sharp and she is ready to draw one of her daggers in an instant if she should need to do so.
Aja glides next to Zed and Sola and judges the young woman. Aja only asks a single question, not waitng for their teamleader to speak. "Did that dragon hold you captive?"
Zed looks slightly taken aback when she invokes Pharasma's name, and his eyes narrow with a magical glint as he starred at her skeptically.
Zed is tall and gaunt with well-defined muscles and broad shoulders. His skin is pallor, his head completely bald, and his eyes are an unnerving ghastly white. His ears are slightly pointed, almost like a half-elf, and his facial features are thin and gaunt. He wears a suit of faintly blue full plate, covered with a black cloak, and moved disturbingly quiet for a dhampir his size wearing such heavy armor.
Also, very notably, he has a prominently displayed iron holy symbol of Pharasma hanging around his neck.
Gaelan smiles as the linnorm breathes its last breath. He lands with a silent prayeer to Iomedae thanking her for her protections. He quickly heals himself back to full health.
He looks at the female walk out of the cave and quickly scans her for nature for evil. Assuming he senses no evil, he speaks, "I am Gaelan Zindarien, servant of Iomedae, and these are my companions. We seek to end the Whispering Way's machinations. How does Pharasma's servant feel about that?"
Sola glides down to land just outside of striking distance from the woman. She gives her an appraising look as she removes her helmet.
now I really wish I’d studied Miss Lorrimor... this woman looks like it could be her, but her bearing’s all wrong... of course, whose bearing would be the same at their own father’s funeral as in the field facing danger... although this woman seems to be some manner of priestess and I never got that impression from the professor’s daughter... I suppose asking may help...
”My name is Dame Solanis,” she adds to the introductions, ”I am a friend to Sir Aenrick, and an ally to the Silver Ravens. Who are you?”
Zephra stolidly attempts to address the responses in turn, though she seems a bit overwhelmed by all the attention.
She nods to Aja. "Yes, the creature attacked my party, or I mean we attacked him, and then I blacked out. That was several days ago. I don't know why he was keeping me captive-- I mean, when I woke up, he had taken me captive-- but I have not seen any servants of the Whispering Way come through here since so perhaps he was saving me for them. Part of their arrangement. Maybe."
She stares at Zed, her gaze flicking back and forth between his face and his holy symbol with her mouth open like she might say something, but she closes it again and switches focus when Gaelan addresses her. Her expression darkens when he mentions the Whispering Way and she nods vigorously as he finishes his sentence. She is still nodding when Sola adds her introduction. "My name? Oh, of course. I am called Sister Zephra. With my companions I have been on the trail of the servants of The Whispering Way for almost a year now, ever since they killed my fa-- um, my friend, that is, the Professor Lorrimor. I will oppose them with my last breath, and theirs. Well, most of them don't breathe, but, you know," she finishes lamely. "Will you allow me to join you on your quest? Pharasma has blessed me with great, uh, blessings, that I would like to share with worthy allies. What a blow to our cause the deaths of my previous companions was! Imagine if all..." She quickly counts in her head and pointing at each person. "... eight ... of us could have opposed them together."
Sola looks, with some concern, to her companions.
she must have some strength to have survived the encounter, but how much... keeping her alive moving forward could make our quest more difficult, although we can't hardly leave her here alone... and she nearly called the professor 'father'... could it be that this Zephra is Kendra's sister, or half-sister, perhaps...
The knight smiles at the seemingly simple woman. "Well, we can't hardly leave you here on your own, can we? We actually just recently lost one of our company as well, so perhaps the gods brought us together for a purpose. Come, you must be starving, let us get you some rations."
The look of concern remains on the beautiful woman's stern face as water and rations are retrieved from Aja's bag and offered to the priestess. Once she's had a moment to eat something, Sola asks, "so... who were your previous companions?"
Eudamonia wears a simple crimson velvet gown, trimmed with white silk and golden embroidery, in the style of the ladies of Lastwall. A polished, form-fitting mithirl breastplate is buckled in place over her gown. Her armor is engraved with an etching of Iomedae striking down a banshee, but that detail is rarely seen as it is obscured by a narrow tabard- a white field with a large crimson star on the chest, denoting the order of knights she belongs to. Above all this she wears a crimson cloak and a silver holy symbol of the Inheritor.
Zephra nods gratefully and eats. While she does so, she describes three other adventurers. As far as she knows, they are all dead, though she only saw one of them killed before she fell unconscious.
She also tells a bit about her trials up until this point. She was trained at a secret Pharasmin school to oppose the Whispering Way, and has been chasing them for almost a year. When Kendra Lorrimor was captured, however, she begged the party to go after her. "Kendra is a... a family... friend..." She looks embarrassed, blushing, aware that she is not very good at lying. "I think she's my half-sister. Professor Lorrimor died before he could confirm it, but certain things he wrote in his journal..." She shrugs. "She is the only family I have left."
Either she wears her heart on her sleeve, or she is such a convincing liar that I have no hope of seeing through the facade. Zed softens slightly. "We are always happy to have the faithful of the Lady of the Graves join us. We had the same mission, and with our combined strength we will finish it."
"I concur with Zed. Welcome to the war, Sister. A servant of Pharasma will be useful in the battles ahead I am sure. Welcome. Can you continue to travel today or do you need to rest for the night? There's a lady to rescue in the clutches of the Whispering Way."
Sister nods that she can continue now and also alerts you that you are entitled to the linnorm's treasure. You walk into the cave and find the following after using detect magic:
You also find just inside the cave is the next witchgate. It seems it was strategically placed there in order for anyone invading the realm to have to deal with the linnorm.
"As urgent as our quest truly is," Sola offers thoughtfully, "perhaps our best course of action would be to camp here for the night?"
"The cave will offer some degree of security, which may be hard to find as we move deeper into the enemies' territory, and I suspect it will be in everyone's best interest to give our new companion an opportunity to finish recovering and prepare herself before we ask her to join the fight in earnest..."
"This does sound like a good idea. The cave is quite optimal. Other dangers won't come near here for a while, until they now the dragon is slain."
Aja investigates the linnorm's treasure. "The wand is almost empty. Does anyone need some healing before the night? The potions are for you, dear Zed." Herself, she puts the teleport scroll to the others.
"It's kind of cold here, but if we're resting, we should alternate guard duty. I will take first watch." Gaelan stood at the mouth of the cave looking for any dangers.
Sister Zephra performs an hour-long ritual at dusk, tracing out a spiral path made of bones with a black scarf. She hums a dark atonal hymn while she does so, but it isn't clear how it is supposed to sound. When she is finished, she bows to the group. "Thank you," she says. "The Lady of Graves has strengthened my arm, and granted me her daily blessings."
To Zed, she comments: "You also follow Pharasma? That's... unusual for one of your race, isn't it? I am afraid I cannot heal you without preparing special spells. There is one called infernal healing that uses the blood of evil outsiders to cause the body to heal itself more quickly, but it would cause you to look evil to detection spells for a short time when I use it. That would work on any of us, but our Iomedan companions could take offense to that. Otherwise, I could prepare negative energy spells in times of need if I leave some of my requests unchosen. I guess that's what I'll do for now."
Zed watches Sister Zephra perform her ritual intently, although he chooses a dark corner of the cave to observe from. Hard to fake that. He thought to himself.
The ghost of a smile flashes across Zed's face. "I am a descendant of Mother Kavapesta. My mother was every bit the undead hunter that we are, but one...got the better of her. Hence..." He gestured to himself, allowing all the heavy unsaid implications of that statement to land. "I hated myself for over a century. My own existence was anathema to my beliefs." He says this scholarly, as if it was a historical fact that no longer held sway over his emotional state. "It was through my travels and experience that I came to peace with what I was, and reconciled that it is not the circumstances of our birth, but what we do with the gift of life that defines us." He says this in a somewhat awkward tone. It did not appear he shared this personal information so casually, but something about Sister Zephra and her own circumstances and questions lead him to naked honesty.
"I have my own healing prepared, do not worry about me." He inhales slowly. "I have used such methods when I was younger, but I can no longer tolerate the acts required to gather the necessary materials while I have the power to live without it." Zed pulls a small string of potions from his pack. They glistened with a malevolent purple energy, and were each clearly labeled with neat handwriting as "Inflict" potions. Handy in case somebody unskilled in magic should discover them. "Should I be rendered unconscious, these are on my person, and I have wands as well. I understand our litany of healing magic will not save me in dire circumstances and I take ample precautions to keep myself from needing it."
Sola quietly observes the interaction between the two Pharasmans, deeply interested but not wanting to intrude.
I don't recall Zed ever sharing that before... something about that ritual must have convinced him of her trustworthiness... she already seems more trustworthy to me than that creature ever did, although I do hope it doesn't get Roet killed... no time for looking back now though, we need to focus on what's ahead and Zephra seems like she will be a blessing in the work that lies ahead...
When the time comes to set up a watch rotation, she offers, "I don't have any spells to prepare so I can take whichever watch is needed, although I do need some time first thing in the morning for my daily prayers."
The night passes and though chilly and uncomfortable, without incident. In the morning, you pray for spells and have breakfast, buff, and whatever other activities you wish to engage in. When you're ready to proceed, the skull-covered arch is ready for your next teleport spell.
Aja wakes up, refreshed and had a rather good night of sleep. Surprisingly. She casts her default spells quickly, before washing and getting a breakfast ration.
Once the group is ready with their rituals, some pray rather long every morning, she takes out another teleport scroll.
Gaelan wakes and meditates for spells in the morning. After casting his sole 22-hour buff, "Looks like we're ready to go. We should try to cover much ground today." He holds hands with his fellow companions when Aja casts the spell, saying a silent prayer to Iomedae for guidance and protection.
Greater Magic Weapon (12 hours)
Magic Vestment (12 hours)
False Life (12 hours)
Freedom of Movement (2 hours)
See Invisibility (2 hours)
Zed makes his own magical preparations and readies himself for their next obstacle.
Before going to sleep, Sola heals the rest of her wounds and as many of her companions as her modest ability to lay hands will allow.
In the morning, she rises early, hangs her holy symbol on her spear and kneels before it, then spends nearly an hour in prayer. Once she's finished, she rises and returns the silver symbol to her neck, and grabs her breakfast ration. When Gaelan speaks she nods in agreement; holding her spear in both hands she affirms, "I'm ready to go if everyone else is."
Sister Zephra casts two additional spells before they step through the arch.
Aja casts her spell and you vanish and then reappear, feeling a little queasy, which soon passes. The morning is overcast and foggy, as the sun's rays struggle to penetrate this cursed region. As you look around, in the distance you barely see the blackened remains of an old village burned centuries ago dot the landscape between large earthen mounds. Smoke still rises from the charred remnants of almost two dozen Varisian wagons scattered haphazardly among the mounds.
With no other clear markers, the party heads in the direction of the village. After ten minutes of walking, you notice a smoky guttering fire on the side of the road ahead, akin to the many campfires that you have rested at during your adventuring career.
Once the party recognizes the scene, Aja announces her thoughts. "Someone was attacked and overrun here. But the campfire suggests someone may have survived. Not many hostile creatures make campfires."
She puts her finger to her lips and makes a military sign for moving forward carefully. "I'll check for not quite dead yet creatures, just in case."
Once the scan of the camp is complete and if nobody has approached them in the meantime, she'd cast Vanish on herself.
"I pray that you are correct, Aja, but it's possible the fire was built before they were attacked and simply hasn't burned out yet..." Sola answers. Assessing the terrain she continues, "there's also a possibility that the fire could be a trap... if the attacker is intelligent, and expected there may be more to the caravan, it may have lit the fire to lure in new arrivals... In any case, we have to check for survivors and if there are any we should try not to frighten them. I'll approach openly and try to talk with anyone I find. I'll leave it to each of you to decide if you want to join my approach or to hide yourselves and follow, just... please be careful not to get noticed before I convince them we're here to help, if we do find anyone."
With her great white wings rising from her back, and her banner fluttering overhead, Sola walks up the road towards what appears to be a campfire. When she's close enough to be heard easily she calls out, "Greetings, travelers, I am Dame Solanis and I come to you in peace, to see if there is some aid I can offer after what looks to be an attack against you."
Zed activates his detect undead, sweeping forward silently below Dame Sola, keeping to the shadows and keeping a sharp eye out for any movement.
As a true paladin, there is no need for Stealth and Gaelan approaches with Sola and yells out, "I be a humble servant of Iomedae. May we approach your camp? We mean no ill will if your intentions are noble."
Upon hearing Solanis and Gaelan's voices, you hear an older male voice shout out, "Fine, approach but slowly. We know of many creatures that deceive in these lands." You approach carefully and see four soldiers, three male and one female, garbed in full plate, each wielding a bastard sword in one hand and a throwing axe in the other. Gaelan immediately recognizes the holy silver symbol that hangs from their necks as belonging to Iomedae as well.
A proud and sober-faced human male of some 56 winters, leads the group. To his right stands a tall, lean man with a drooping mustache; to the leader's left is a silent, brooding man with long blond hair in his late thirties; and finally a comely yet severe raven-haired woman with no more than a score of years behind her remains in the back. The older male looks over to the tall man to his right who had his eyes closed and slowly opens them and shakes his head no. The older man relaxes a little, looks at Gaelan's adornments and comments, "Good to see a fellow devotee of the Lady of Valor in these lands, which is quite rare I must say."
However, before the older man can speak again, your attention is drawn to some animalistic growling noises emanating from behind the knights, whom are trying to shield the sight from your eyes in vain. For behind them on the ground lies a withered crone lies bound, her sagging limbs contorted at painful angles by bloody manacles staked to the ground with a short chain. Limp gray hair barely conceals her naked frame as he rbody struggles against the chains, growling and snarling
The older man waits for your reaction, "That crone there is Church business, so please do not interfere in official Knights of Ozem business." He and his fellow soldiers stand in defensive positions in case you want to make trouble. The Knights appear to be waiting for you to react.
Zed silently detaches himself from the woods. Part of him hopes his appearance (not only sudden, but partially undead) did not alarm the knights, but also part of him knew that some indirect intimidation could be good for keeping away any thoughts of a sudden attack.
He holds up his holy symbol of Pharasma. "We have no qualms with the Knights of Ozem. As Iomedaens and Pharasmans, there is no group we more align with."
That being said, Zed still carefully listened to the way they spoke. He had been tricked before by ones proclaiming false faith.
Zephra follows, a bit lamely. "There is no group we more, uh, yes." She looks around, wary of danger they may not be aware of.
”Yes,” Sola affirms, gesturing towards her own proudly displayed symbol of Iomedae, ”there’s one more of us flying around somewhere nearby, and we are followers of the Inheritor or the Lady of Graves, and enemies of the Whispering Way, and any evil that plagues these lands.”
Looking at the imprisoned crone she adds, ”is there any way we can help with this church business?”
Gaelan seems bothered by the treatment of the crone. "What crime has this woman committed to be treated in such a manner, manacled, and naked? Can you not clothe her? Sometimes, my friends, in these evil lands, we tend to see evil everywhere and we lose our humanity."
Gaelan senses evil on the knights.
Totally not silent, Aja lands next to the groups. "Greetings fellow soldiers." The knights should be confused at this statement, because Aja is not wearing any armor or uniform. One trained in religion might notice symbols of Shelyn, though, which is also not a militaristic goddess.
She speaks after Gaelan. "Yes! Should we not first try to redeem her?"
The knights are offended by the elf 's words, but when he concentrates to detect evil on them, Solanis' words and the group's non-violence calms them. The leader speaks, "A fellow paladin as well? That is is truly refreshing. I am Sir Garvis Karst, this is Miras Barnholdt (lean one), Filip Andreve (blondie), and Anca Viorica. May we have your names?" After bowing, the knights sheathe their weapons. Sir Garvis continues, "The crone is a witch named Lacramoria, a fortune-teller from a Varisian caravan who became corrupted by the land’s sour magic. We discovered her caged among her own people. We took jurisdiction over her to save her. We believe she is possessed. Look at the "flames of Hell” burning in her eyes!"
Miras chimes in, "She is manacled to stop her from injuring us or herself. As for her lack of clothing, she ripped them off herself. So no, elf, we have not lost our humanity. We simply deal with the situation at hand."
Filip, not to be left out, also speaks, "We are taking her to Vigil with haste to be exorcised, as we lack the means to perform an exorcism ourselves. Unless one of you can aid with that endeavor?"
The knights allow you a closer look at Lacramoria. Her worn face holds a perpetual sneer. Her eyes smolder with faint yellow pinpoints that leak sulfuric fumes, and a low, animalistic growl escapes her rapidly heaving chest.
"Zed Ulmin." He does not give any other titles or honorifics with his name. They would come up if the situation was right.
Zed comes up to the woman, dead expression on his face as he examines her. He does not respond to her smoldering eyes or primal growls, going over the crone like he would inspect a broken wagon wheel. After a moment he nods.
"You are right, she is possessed. Let us see what she is like without being used as a puppet." Zed holds up his holy symbol. "Troth de malsvir!" He says, and the holy symbol glows a brilliant white.
Zed recognizes the signs of possession: animalistic growls, wrenched limbs, and sulfuric fumes, as are the indigestible materials such as eggshells, small bones, and other debris that she vomits forth every few minutes. Unfortunately, he also knows that in possession cases, to expel the malevolence requires one of three spells: Banishment, Dismissal, or Dispel Evil.
Upon the casting the spell and after Zed touches the crone, her eyes narrow and she spits green bile on him , hissing in an unearthly voice, "She is mine, begone your pathetic magics you mortal scum!" Then it engages in a slew of epithets and curses at Zed and the paladins surrounding the prisoner.