"I don't sense any lies. But you do admit to drugging the teenagers. This case is too complex for me to judge on my own. I'm going to bring them in to weigh in on the situation. And of course I'll listen if my allies have an opinion."
Vitalis will attempt to shackle Luculla's hands with his poor manacles. And if that is successful, he'll go to fetch the twins.
** spoiler omitted **
Jisara rolls her eyes.
"Hmm, yes, very moving. You joined a cult of a Queen of the Night to practice mindfulness. I can see how you were caught off guard by the sudden turn to kidnappings and consorting with devils."
When Vitalis indicates his intention to go get the children, she shakes her head.
"Stay here, in case she pulls something while you're gone. Thatch, go collect the children for us, please."
Edrakk considers her testimony, tilting his head to one side as he thinks.
Jisara rolls her eyes.
"Hmm, yes, very moving. You joined a cult of a Queen of the Night to practice mindfulness. I can see how you were caught off guard by the sudden turn to kidnappings and consorting with devils."
"I don't know, it seems plausible." the tengu offers. "Cults need to grow somehow, usually by appealing to a sense of community and togetherness, which would resonate especially to people who feel unwelcome in the rest of society, for instance, changelings. And when the practices start getting more extreme, I imagine a lot of the worshippers would feel enough loyalty to the church that they follow anyway, and those who don't would get bullied into submission by the others, or become victims of the extreme practices themselves. Luculla's story is pretty much in line with that."
Jisara turns to Edrakk, her eyes flashing with anger.
"I am quite aware," she says through gritted teeth, "of what it is to be an un-person in Kintargo."
“Well, that’s interesting!” Chance all but ignores Luculla’s story, refocusing his usually fleeting attention on Caterina’s fiendish green mask. “She was so proud to wear such an ugly thing! Did the mask come from her deal with the devil, Luculla? Let’s see if we can figure out why she was so honored to wear it...”
As Chance talks about the strange psychic energy on the green mask, Luculla (who is actually well-versed in occultism) glances over to him and clicks her tongue, her demeanor completely shifting. ”Damn it, Caterina!”
Before Chance has a chance to cast object reading a second time, Luculla leaps into action as she moves toward the not-so-secret door, and she chants as she becomes surrounded in occult magic.
Round 1
==============
Luculla Gens {Hasted: Round 0 of 10}
Jisara
Chance
Vitalis
Edrakk
==============
Vitalis chases after Luculla. He attempts to push her to the ground then bends over to grab her to keep her from getting away. "Hey, we're not done here!"
"This again?" Jisara says, rolling her eyes. She moves to block the door once more, casting a spell as she moves.
Edrakk sighs in frustration. Poison still on his blade, he runs forward to cut her off. "I tried to give you the benefit of the doubt." he mutters, before swinging his gale blade.
"Here we go again!"
Chance starts up his song again.
"Where are you running?
The other minions now are dead
Where are you running?
Ooh, wee, ooh, wee, ooh
Where are you running now?"
"Flugantaj rokoj por ĵokeoj!" Another bola lifts up and flies in Luculla’s general direction.
Vitalis rushes forward and attempts to trip the woman, and when that fails he manages to wrap is free arm around her waist!
Jisara blocks Luculla’s escape as she casts a spell at the woman.
Luculla glares at the witch as she writhes in Vitalis’s grasp.
Edrakk bounds forward and slices at Luculla with his gale blade .
Chance begins singing and slings a bola at Luculla, though she manages to dodge even while in Vitalis’s grasp.
”Get off of me!” Luculla desperately tries to escape the paladin’s grasp!
When that doesn’t work, she looks down the hallway and desperately attempts to Cast a Spell amid Vitalis’s attempts to stop it.
Luculla successfully completes her spell and Vitalis feels his grip slip as the woman suddenly teleports down the hallway! She smirks back at the PCs as she runs out of sight.
Round 2
==============
Luculla Gens (-12) {Hasted: Round 1 of 10}
Jisara
Chance
Vitalis
Edrakk
==============
Vitalis chases after Luculla again but he knows that with her enhanced speed, he stands little chance of catching her. He prepares one last ditch effort to catch her off guard.
Readying is a two-action activity.
Jisara, exasperated, yanks open the secret door and runs through it, trying to cut ahead of Luculla.
Chance follows Jisara through the secret door as quickly as his shorter legs will carry him. "Wait for me!"
Vitalis gives chase and attempts to surreptitiously flip the hidden switch.
Chance and Jisara give chase through the secret door.
Edrakk Strides twice after Chance and Jisara, then pulls out another dose of leadenleg.
Luculla sees the unstealthy Vitalis flip the switch, and gets paranoid herself as she looks down the two hallways.
The woman smirks and continues to retreat, the hinged floor not giving out under her.
Luculla stops and looks over, seeing Jisara and Chance around the two corners. She smiles as she becomes surrounded with occult magic. With an incantation she stretches forth her hand, and thin strands of blackness extend from her fingers toward the gnome and tiefling!
Success
Failure
As the strange strands pierce through Jisara, the witch begins bleeding heavily.
Round 3
==============
Luculla Gens (-12) {Hasted: Round 2 of 10}
Jisara (-15) {3 persistent bleed}
Chance (-7)
Vitalis
Edrakk
==============
Jisara takes the brunt of the spell, whereupon Thatch leaps off her shoulders and runs ahead to keep pace with Luculla. Jisara then casts two spells in quick succession; one to heal her wounds and another sending a blast of freezing energy at the changeling.
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Despite the trap not going off, luckily for Vitalis, Luculla paused to cast a spell instead of fully fleeing. So he continues chase. He digs his glaive into her flesh and yanks her closer to him.
Chance lunges forward, stopping at the edge of the pool. “I think I’ve heard this story before, lady. It goes like this: They think I’m a monster, do they? Well, then, that is what I will be! I shall become the very monster they fear! Did I get it right? Oh, how dreadfully ironic!” He waves a hand and a bit of rubble streaks off the floor towards the changeling’s face.
"Flugantaj rokoj por ĵokeoj!"
"Let's try this again." Edrakk takes the dose of Leadenleg he drew earlier and applies it to his blade. He then starts running forward and draws a bomb.
Jisara begins healing herself and then shoots frigid magic at Luculla, but misses.
Vitalis gives chase and severely wounds the fleeing woman.
Chance advances forward and flings rubble at Luculla.
Edrakk applies poison to his blade and moves forward.
Luculla groans in pain as Vitalis lunges at her. Seeing firsthand the damage that the paladin can do, she realizes that she needs to take care of this issue. She once more becomes surrounded by the manifestations of magic as she speaks to Vitalis. ”There is a statuette of Mahathallah in the room next to the altar. Would you be a dear and bring that statuette to me?”
Failure
Success (barely)
But the woman’s words don’t quite hit the mark, only leaving Vitalis confused as to why the woman was talking so politely after getting chopped at by a glaive!
Luculla curses under her breath as she books it away from the PCs.
Round 4
==============
Luculla Gens (-65) {Hasted: Round 3 of 10}
Jisara (-12) {3 persistent bleed, Fast Healing 6: Round 1 of 4}
Chance (-18) {3 persistent bleed}
Vitalis
Edrakk
==============
I’m, uh, going to make a pseudo-meta-gaming executive decision that Vitalis’s player would realize that they REALLY don’t want to fail this save and choose to spend a Hero Point to reroll it for them.
Vitalis shakes off whatever Luculla tried to do to him and shouts to his allies. "She's getting away! If you can run faster than me, cut her off at the stairs or we'll lose her."
He full-out sprints just to keep pace.
Mentally kicking herself for not thinking of it sooner, Jisara darts forward and throws an unraveling spell at Luculla's back. Thatch, meanwhile, tries to keep pace.
At Vitalis's cry, the little gnome sprints forward, skidding past Edrakk and Jisara, careening around the corners and into the room with the exit to the staircase. He darts between the paladin and the changeling, sliding under Vitalis's glaive, and pops up in front of Luculla, panting like a dog on a hot day.
"You want to bet... on getting away... go ahead and... roll the dice," he wheezes. "But I don't like your... odds."
Edrakk applies poison to his blade and moves forward.
You can apply an injury poison you're holding to a weapon you're wielding as a single action, rather than as a 2-action activity, and you can change the DCs of your infused poisons to your class DC if it's higher.
Edrakk gives chase, although his legs are more suited for walking through library halls than running through an underground dungeon, so he's somewhat out of breath when he just barely catches up. "You... are... way too fast..." he says between breaths. "Guess I should... try and fix that..." He takes a swipe at her with his poisoned blades.
Vitalis and Chance sprint to keep up with Luculla.
Jisara casts a spell and causes Luculla to nearly trip over herself as she suddenly loses her burst of speed.
Edrakk sprints forward and slices at Luculla with his poisoned weapon.
Luculla growls in frustration as she dances around the men surrounding her in an attempt to get away. She then turns heel to face the men in the chamber as she once more surrounds herself in magic as she Casts a Spell. ”Leave me alone!”
As she finishes her incantation, a wave of serenity wafts out over Vitalis, Edrakk, and Chance.
Crit failure –> failure (incapacitation)
Crit failure –> failure (incapacitation)
Edrakk and Vitalis are overwhelmed by a feeling of serenity within them.
Round 5
==============
Luculla Gens (-69)
Jisara (-9) {Fast Healing 6: Round 2 of 4}
Chance (-21) {3 persistent bleed}
Vitalis {Calmed}
Edrakk {Calmed}
==============
"I think not!"
"I'm not letting you leave so easily!
Vitalis rebukes Luculla's spell and grabs her around the waist.
He tries kicking her afterwards.
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Chance gets enough of his wind back to sing out a bit of his inspiring song, then casts his standby spell.
"Where are you running?
Nasty staircase up ahead!
Where are you running?
Ooh, wee, ooh, wee, ooh
Where are you running now?"
"Flugantaj rokoj por ĵokeoj!"
Jisara barks out a surprised laugh when her dispelling magic actually works, and she hurries forward to catch up. Stopping just behind Vitalis, she turns and calls back to Thatch, who has paused his pursuit to wash his face.
The cat rolls his eyes and returns to his feet, glowing with magical energy for just a moment.
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Edrakk, finally noticing the trail of blood Chance was leaving, puts his blight bomb back in his bag. "Oh dear, uh..." He quickly makes his way over to the gnome and starts trying to patch up his wounds.
Vitalis rushes at Luculla and grabs the woman.
Chance continues singing and slings objects that hit Luculla.
Jisara advances forward and taps into Thatch’s latent magic.
Edrakk stores his bomb and patches up Chance.
Luculla struggles to get out of Vitalis’s grasp.
The woman shoves Vitalis off of her and continues to run, letting the latent energy of her serene magic dissipate.
Round 6
==============
Luculla Gens (-84)
Jisara (-6) {Fast Healing 6: Round 3 of 4}
Chance (-5) {3 persistent bleed}
Vitalis
Edrakk
==============
Vitalis has a harder time up the stairs than the nimble woman. Even with all his effort, he falls behind as he clatters up the stairs in his armor.
"Yikes! There she goes! Let's go!"
Chance races up the stairs after the fleeing changeling as fast as he can.
"Stop...running!" Jisara yells, breathing hard as she sprints up the stairs after Luculla. Thatch makes his way to the base of the stairs and turns, waiting for Chance and Edrakk.
Edrakk runs up the stairs after everyone else, flashing back to university running late to classes.
All of the PCs book it up the stairs to cut off Luculla’s escape!
Luculla is taken aback as she is now surrounded. She growls as she Casts a Spell. She looks over at Vitalis, standing at the foot of her escape route, and says with a smirk ”So, this is the part where you let me off easy, right?”
Critical failure
Vitalis laughs in the woman’s face at the audacity of her question! And laughs again. And again. Horror spreads across the paladin’s face as the uncontrollable laughter makes it difficult to breathe and his knees buckle as he clutches at his stomach, unable to control his own body.
The woman then utters a brief incantation as a shield of force manifests in front of her.
Round 7
==============
Luculla Gens (-84)
Jisara
Chance (-8) {3 persistent bleed}
Vitalis {prone; Laughing Hideously: Round 0 of 1}
Edrakk
==============
"Oh, that part was about 30 seconds ago," Jisara says, energy gathering in her outstretched hand. "Before you pissed me off."
Concerned by Vitalis's wildly inappropriate, booming guffaws, Chance glances at the paladin, then turns to glare at Luculla. The bard changes his tune before flinging more rubble at the surrounded changeling.
"Nowhere to run to, cultist
Nowhere to hide
Got nowhere to run to, cultist
Nowhere to hide!"
"Flugantaj rokoj por ĵokeoj!"
Hero point reroll:
"Hahahaha! I'm fine! She thinks we're going to let her go! Hahahaha! I've never heard something so ridiculous in my life! Hahahaha!"
Edrakk looks at her with disappointment. "I tried to, but I don't think that's possible anymore." He takes a step back, redraws the vial of sickly yellow liquid, and tosses it in her direction.
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Chance, Jisara, and Edrakk send potent attacks at Luculla from all sides! The Mahathallan sees all this occurs and, milliseconds before disaster, lets out a brief ”Oh sh*t.”
Luculla Gens gets frozen by ice, bombarded with rubble, and coated in poison, all of which culminates in her being knocked to the ground, causing Vitalis’s magical laughing fit to dissipate.
As she was planning on fooling the PCs, Luculla doesn’t have any items of note on her person
This room appears to be a combination bedchamber and personal shrine. A portable cot bedecked with furs and a feather mattress sits to the southwest, while to the southeast stands a small semicircular desk on the top of which lies a miniature altar, a statuette of a skeletal woman with fleshless wings, and several books and scrolls. A wooden stand in the corner to the east supports a gold-plated human skull, its top removed so that it can serve as a basin for what appears to be watered-down blood.
Edrakk notices a strange symbol just inside the room that appears to be a trap.
And he manages to disable it easily.
The gold-plated skull is worth 25 gp and is filled with 4 doses of unholy water. The statuette is of Mahathallah and is worth 25 gp. The statuette has a hidden compartment that Jisara discovers—inside of it is a scroll of glibness; the statuette otherwise functions as an exquisite surprise doll.
Vitalis stands up and composes himself but his face is flush red. "I'm sorry, you needed to see that. I've seen you do similar things to our opponents, Chance, but it is another thing to be on the receiving end. It is so undignified."
He looks at Luculla's body on the ground. "Well I guess that's that. It didn't need to end this way, but clearly Luculla would not accept any other outcome. Perhaps her death will bring some level of closure to her other victims."
------
In the small bedchamber, Vitalis frowns at the unholy ceremonial paraphernalia. "I feel unsettled just looking at these things, let alone handling them."
Right outside the altar room is a pair of large iron doors bearing the symbol of the Hellknight Order of the Torrent. The door itself has a lock that, even despite the rust upon it, remains surprisingly sturdy to this day. The door itself radiates abjuration magic, which after a bit of careful investigation, it is determined to be coming from a lock spell that persists to this day. This doorway will not be easy to open, but perhaps Lictor Octavio has a key to open it.
*
”I don’t have the key.”
Lictor Octavio Sabinus sits in the basement of the Tooth and Nail—a location very unbefitting of a leader of a Hellknight branch.
”I will remind you that the raid on the Lucky Bones happened forty years ago, during a tenuous time in the order’s history, and that Citadel Vaull has been overtaken by the Order of the Rack. Any key to that door is long gone. I will happily pay for any spellcasting service to undo the abjuration on the door, but getting through the door proper is, unfortunately, up to you four.”
Jisara shakes some residual frost off of her hand after Luculla falls, before heading over to help Vitalis back to his feet. "Don't feel too bad, I should have known she had that one up her sleeve after I tried using it on her. She shrugged it off like I hadn't cast it at all."
"Oh, this is delightfully hideous," Jisara says, picking up the statuette with an amused smile. She's even more pleased when she discovers the secret compartment and the scroll hidden inside. "What a clever little toy this is! Chance, you might want to study this scroll a bit; it'll make you an outstanding liar. I think I'll keep the doll, though. Handy little place for a dagger."
Jisara Morten's payment for the return of his children without comment, but sequesters herself with her familiar upon the party's return to the Tooth and Nail. After a minute, Thatch darts out of the tavern with a small pouch held between his teeth that jingles with each step.
"What?" she says defensively, if anyone takes note of the odd behavior. "I'm sending him out shopping. It's about time he made himself useful around here."
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Vitalis tells Jisara, "I would have just refused the payment, but perhaps your way is better."
Jisara gives Vitalis an annoyed look that quickly softens before she looks away. "It would have embarrassed him. He hadn't earned that."
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Chance accepts the scroll, his expression skeptical. "I'm already pretty good at spontaneous confabulation and mendacity, so I ..." He skims the magical inscription and quickly changes his mind. "Oh, this is fascinating! I can see how ... yes, I'll hang onto this until I have time to give it the study it deserves."
Jisara gives Vitalis an annoyed look that quickly softens before she looks away. "It would have embarrassed him. He hadn't earned that."
Chance looks from Vitalis to Jisara and shrugs. "Also, we need the money! Running an underground rebel movement isn't cheap, you know! This coffee doesn't pay for itself! And in case you haven't noticed, our primary confectionary supplier has gone out of business!" Chance blows on his steaming mug and takes a cautious sip.
"Along the same lines, if Mister Lictor wants to pay for a scroll to let us get through the lock his people put on that door, we should definitely let him."
Jisara crosses her arms and glares down at Chance. "You're free to spend your money how you like, Fortunato. I haven't taken anything of yours, nor have I told you what to do with it. Our little rebellion won't fail because I didn't want to take a man for everything he had."
Chance's eyes grow wide in surprise and he pushes his chair back, away from Jisara. "What do you mean? You took the money. I was agreeing with you!"