Aisling looks annoyed. "This is stuipid. You've made a dumb bargain with people who destryo knowledge, so now you're oging to have to fight people who are actually interested in learning things!"
She muttesr a quick prayer and a shimmer of protective force appears around her.
"A tragedy, I know." The scrivenite flutters its page-limbs, preparing for combat.
"It isn't 'a tragedy', it' s your tragedy. You were a greedy fool who was manipulated, and now you're too rigid and selfish to do anything but continue to lick the boot that kicked you. You're pathetic. I hope your light is dimmed forever when we send you back."
The words of Aisling and Vantine sum up her thoughts pretty well, so when Jessibel opens her mouth it's to start an inspirational war chant to initiate what seems to be inevitable combat.
It's a shame, she thinks, finding the scrivenite somewhat fascinating. But the safety of her city and its culture comes before the selfish needs of the outsider....
Nyxra snorts in contempt and fires an arrow at the wretch.
Aisling puts her shield up and moves to attack the outsider.
Vantine mocks the scrivenite's statement, but it nods. "As I said. A tragedy." Even as the words emerge from its head, Nyxra fires her shot at it. The creature casually swats the arrow out of the way with a lash of one of its bookmark-ribbons. "Alas. Now, combat begins."
Jessibel begins to sing, her voice inspiring her comrades to greater heights of skill and focus. Unfortunately, this isn't enough for Aisling to successfully land a blow - her sword doesn't even come close to the outsider.
The scrivenite takes a step back from Aisling, and it glows violet for a moment. "Unfortunately, I am also forced to inform the redactors of your presence here. They will know you are coming. My apologies."
Vantine tries cursing the scrivenite with misfortune and hopes for the best. She isn't very confident about her ability to affect those from other planes.
Then she draws her wand.
"Yet another problem that would have been solved by fire." The Raven says in a droll tone. He steps forward and unleashes a dagger at the paper person.
As the Raven offers his somewhat pyromaniacal advice to his fellows, he hurls his dagger at the scrivenite. The knife looks as though it will hit the creature's center mass, but then it separates its pages, leaving a gap for the projectile to fly through and leaving the outsider unharmed.
Vantine reaches into the weave of fate, trying to curse the book-being with ill-fortune. Unsurprisingly, its rigid, Axis-bound destiny resists any such interference, leaving her only to draw her wand in the hopes it might even the odds.
Nyxra growls and throws her bow aside, drawing her sword and moving to engage.
Still singing, Jessibel loops around behind the scrivenite, using the bookcases for cover as much as possible.
Asiling presses her attack, slashing at the pages. She gets teh feeling she isn't acheiving very much.
Nyxra ditches her bow, rushing towards the creature. As she gets close to it, however, one of its long ribbons lash out, striking at her. Though it only cuts her cheek, she feels something vanish from her mind, though what exactly that is has to remain unknown for now. A small book manifests itself, dangling from pages at the scrivenite's "hip." Despite her injury, the elf ranger slashes at the outsider, who dodges the blows with flowing ease
Meanwhile, the Magpie continues her song, circling around the room and the bookshelves to approach the scrivenite from behind, just in time to flank it with Aisling, who uses the chance to strike at the pages. This time, several pages fall to the floor, shorn beyond reading, but far fewer than one would expect.
The pages of the creature's head hiss in what sounds almost like a gasp of pain. "Servant of the law, why do you do this?" It asks Aisling. Though its voice is strained, it doesn't seem angry - just genuinely curious.
With that, it floats up and away, towards the ceiling, leaving itself open to the attacks of all three women. Their blades slash and stab, but it deflects them with its ribbons, barely dignifying them with even that response.
With that, it lashes out again, this time at Jessibel. It cracks into her sternum, sending her staggering away, and she feels something tear free from her mind. Another book flutters into existence at the scrivenite's side.
Vantine tries Evil Eye on it.
"Foolish paper doll! Know you not that I am the famed Dockside Arsonist?! Countless wood-based products have turned to ash in my wake!"
You can use this skill to cause an opponent to become shaken for a number of rounds. This shaken condition doesn’t stack with other shaken conditions to make an affected creature frightened. The DC of this check is equal to 10 + the target’s Hit Dice + the target’s Wisdom modifier.
Success: If you are successful, the target is shaken for one round. This duration increases by 1 round for every 5 by which you beat the DC. You can only threaten an opponent this way if it is within 30 feet and can clearly see and hear you. Using demoralize on the same creature only extends the duration; it does not create a stronger fear condition.
Fail: The opponent is not shaken.
Action Demoralizing an opponent is a standard action.
Retry? You can attempt to intimidate an opponent again, but each additional check increases the DC by +5. This increase resets after one hour has passed.
The Raven shouts his threats at the scrivenite, who disregards the words, and Vantine unleashes her hex on it again. Once more, however, its stubborn fate refuses her influence.
Aisling glares at the paper thing. "Because I'm NOT a servant of law! I'm a servant of JUSTICE! Law without Goodness is the reason you ended up taking that stupid bargain!"
Jessibel steps back, drops her glowing rapier, and digs into her backpack, finding 2 jars of alchemist's fire she'd nearly forgotten buying.
Aisling reachies to her belt, without takitng her eyes off the book-thing. She's glad now that she listened to Jessi and Raven about the alchomist fire - she was a bit worried they were going to use it as an excuse to burn thingns down but *so far* they've been responsbile with it. She hopes it lasts.
She pulls a flask from her belt and throws it at the screivener.
Nyxra draws one of the flasks of alchemist's fire from her pouch, before hurling it at the scrivenite. An agonized scream emerges from the creature as its pages ignite with green flame and it shudders, embers dropping off of it.
The Magpie retreats from the range of the creature's ribbon appendages, and draws both her flasks from where they were stowed.
Aisling takes a few careful steps away from the outsider, before doing the same.as Nyxra. Once more, the flask shatters against its page-body, and more ashen pieces drift to the ground. The creature shudders again, the features on its book-face twisting into something that resembles a feral scowl.
It turns its gaze to Jessibel, and a flare of magical power blasts at her mind. A confusing mess of images and impulses wreak havoc on her ability to control her body, stunning her and leaving her unable to act.
Jessibel's mouth falls open and her eyes go wide in shock and/or fear as she finds herself unable to move, attack, or--gods forbid--even talk!
The Raven follows his apprentice's suit, grabbing one of the flasks of alchemist's fire he has at his belt and hurling it at the flying scrivenite. This time, however, the creature is able to float to the side, avoiding the burning liquid, which crashes unfortunately close to Aisling, who gets singed by the flames splattering out of the broken flask.
Vantine tries her hex once more, not wanting to risk the damage that a miss might do to her fellows. This time, however, its unnaturally rigid destiny relents, leaving the scrivenite's luck behind it.
Jessi does little more than twitch, looking every bit like a flightless chick who's fallen out of her nest.
Nyxra yanks out her last flask of alchemist's fire and throws it!
Nyxra hurls her final flask of fire at the scrivenite, and though it seems as though the magical aura around the outsider will protect it, something shifts and allows the flask to strike home. It shrieks in agony as more flames rise up to consume it.
Jessibel remains dazed by the creature's magic, but Aisling follows Nyxra's attack with her own, adding more fuel to the fire.
The scrivenite flutters its still-burning pages in a last ditch desperate attack on Aisling, who lifts her shield and deflects the attack easily. With a final, baleful cry, the creature sizzles and collapses into embers, leaving only the two books that it created magically behind.
With that last, desperate wail, the library is silent again, leaving only the breathing of the Ravens as the only disruption.
Aisling shrugs regretfully. "I didnt want to do that, but it wouldno't give us a choice." She looks at the books, what few there are left. "Remind me to go through those once we're duone here. You never know what the bad guys might have missed."
Jessibel moves uncertainly to the two books spawned after the scrivenite's ribbon struck herself and Nyxra. The young bard opens one and begins reading. Tears form in her blue eyes, and she sniffs the word, "Father...." After taking a few moments to compose herself, she carries the second book over to Nyxra and presents it to the elf unopened.
"I believe that if we read these it'll restore the memories the scrivenite's ribbon stole from us," she informs her stoic friend. "It'd likely take half an hour or so...."
"Well this is... stupid." The Raven says, kicking through the ashen ribbons of paper. "Why is it when Thrune rears his ugly head, untold legions of the strange and bizzare descend upon the city? How many dragons and outsiders have you seen within the city walls before? None! But now? A copper a dozen." He shakes his head and exhales slowly, staring at the floor. What good was he against such exotic foes? At least his companions had magic, he was just a faceless pugilist.
No sense crying over it. He crosses his arms and leans against one of the bookshelves. "Is that a book of the Magpie's secrets? I bet that would be worth some money." He teases Jessibel.
"Yes, let's take the time. I would think if they don't send someone here to check they will have assumed that thing took care of the problem."
Vantine also kicks at the ash, but absolutely isn't copying Raven. Then she busies herself looking through the other books there.
Jessibel's reaction is unusual, as she pulls away from the Raven, almost violently. Realizing she's overreacted, the bard mutters an apology. "No secrets--the thing tried to steal my memories, including some about my murdered father. Those are precious to me."
Jessi also thanks the others for giving her time to read through the tome before proceeding. When she's finished, the bard's masked face has a teardrop dangling from her chin, but there's also a genuine smile on her lips.
"Ready!" she announces.
Aisling nods. "I'ms sorry for your loss." She hesitates for a moment. "Would that maeke you the rights person to give the news to Rexus? You'll at least know what it feels lieke, maybe he can take it better from you."
The fact that tehy still haven't told him what they found is clearly bothering her. It's a sort of lie by omission.
Aisling's words make Jessi squirm. In the end, though, the teen bard sees this as another opportunity to grow up a bit and be more responsible.
"Yeah--you're probably right," Jessi admits. "I'm worried about how Rexus might take the news, though; it might be enough to break his spirit."
The Magpie stows her unused alchemist's fire in her backpack, moving her oil of align weapon to her belt pouch for easier access. Retrieving her glowing rapier off the floor, she moves closer to the double doors to the west, listening for any sign of approaching foes.
The pair read through their respective books as quickly as is reasonable, before the Ravens make their way over to the doors. Pushing it open reveals a long, wide stairway down into the depths beneath Kintargo. The continual flames hanging from the ceiling provide steady light on their way down, their boots clattering on the stone as they go.
Accustomed to staying out of sight, the Raven stalks down the stairs. Keen avian ears alert for danger, he peeks round the corner...
The Raven creeps forwards, peeking around the corner. Beyond is a long hallway - some sixty feet in length. Four doors stand on the wall closest to him, and there is a corridor that extends parallel to the stairs along the way as well. There are no signs of, well, anyone. The well-lit hallways are empty of life.
With that, he ghosts down the hallway, listening carefully at the first door. Hearing nothing, he takes the chance to look down the corridor next to the door, and sees another three doors at the end of a narrower hall.
While the Raven scouts forward, Nyxra takes her book from Jessibel and reads it.
"The beautiful chaos a fire would cause down here. We are really missing out on a wonderful opportunity." He mumbles to himself as the hallways of doors present themselves to him. Turning back to the nearest closed door, he tests it for locked-ness.
The first door that the Raven opens leads to a small monastic cell, with a humble cot and desk as the only decorations. An ingenious mechanism hangs from the continual flame's brazier, allowing one to shut the light away with the tug of a rope.
The next two doors lead to two different rooms - though "room" might be a tad generous. More like walk-in closets, one has an empty bookshelf, a rack of folded, dusty clothing, and a stack of empty notebooks. The other has a few packets of dried food, and a barrel of clean water.
The last door looks like it had been locked, once, but that lock was broken, along with part of the door. Pushing it open reveals a larger bedroom, with a workspace - a desk with papers scattered around it - a bed, and a washroom. As a whole, though, this dusty room clearly hasn't been used for several weeks, at least.
The Magpie repositions herself in a corner where she has a view of both the southern corridor and the hallway leading back to the scrivenite's library.
Farther back, Vantine keeps her eyes peeled and tries to be quiet.
Boring. "Nothing interesting here." The Raven mutters as he passes back by his companions and heads down the next hallway of doors.
Nyxra grumbles to herself.
Each of the other three doors in the hallway lead to another cell, similar to the first one. Each of them is similarly furnished to the others, with a simple bed and desk setup, though none have any documents left inside.
The Raven sneaks down the western hallway and peers around the corner.
Not wanting to fall too far behind her mentor, the Magpie creeps down the hallway in his wake.
Liekwise, Asiling follows behind in the areas the RAven has already cleared. She looks around a bit more carefully, perha;s not entirely trusting her flighty companion to do the hard work of actually paying attention to things. And so it proves. "Psst! Get back here!" She points to the lever she has found. "Secret door, is my guess."
Only when the others are back with her does she try the lever to see what happesn.
The Raven approaches the end of the corridor, peeking around even as Aisling is searching the larger quarters. There, he finds stairs leading further downwards, beyond which lies a large, table-strewn room. An overwhelming stench of rotting flesh drifts up the stairs, and heavy chains spiderweb across the walls, strangling the room with iron. A desiccated corpse is held up against the walls with these chains, and at the center of the web is a fist-sized box of wood and bronze.
Of more immediate note is the four Asmodean redactors. One of whom notices the slight movement of the vigilante. "They're here! For the Dark Prince!"
In the northeast, Aisling pulls the latch, and a secret door swings open, revealing a long hallway that stretches into a wide room, covered in chains.
One of the redactors rushes up the stairs, leaping the last few steps to throw a punch at the Raven. The vigilante is caught off-guard at the sudden attack, and he is struck square in the solar plexus, knocking the wind out of him. He's pretty sure he felt something tear, too.
Another, in the far corner, approaches the stairs, only to pause and look down the corridor at Aisling. "Wait! Another one's over there!" She points in the Iomedaean's direction, and begins moving towards her new target. "She somehow got past us!"
Though she wonders what exactly Aisling found, it can't be as pressing as what the Raven's gotten himself into! Jessibel strides down the hall to stab at the redactor.
Magpie to the rescue!
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