"Thanks, Meri," The emberkin replies gratefully, as he sees his flesh regain a healthier complexion.
He spares Hulrun's remains one more glance before he joins Irabeth and the others at the door, and kneels down to close his eyes. "I... forgive you my grievances. Rest easy, inquisitor. I hope your passing was swift."
Once at the door, he frowns at the solid barricade it turned out to be. "Perhaps we could use something from the debris around here as a makeshift battering ram. Like a bench or such? I don't know how long it would take to pick the lock, and I know it's not exactly subtle or silent. But we know they have telepathy, and that they'd logically already know we're here. I think we need the fastest possible way in, so that they have the least amount of time to prepare. I say we try to brute force it, commander Irabeth."
"Or we could just use the chime of opening from the Riftwardens' stash and get in even faster." Merixia looks at Thesius. "You're the expert on locks. What do you think?"
Thesius approaches the door warily with the others, putting away his weapons as the current predicament becomes clear. With a keen eye he looks it over and it quickly becomes clear that this lock is beyond anything they have come across so far.
Emboldened by his earlier spell, he takes the time to pull forth his lock picks and responds, "I would prefer to reserve the chime if we can and with a bit of luck I think I may be able to get these doors open."
Swearing beneath his breath, he continues to try and unlock the door.
It takes a couple minutes, but Thesius is able to jimmy open the lock on the Garrison's door. Once everyone is prepared Irabeth looks to Elliot, Merixia, and Azira. "Ready?" With their assent, she opens the door.
Within, they see what was once a museum dedicated to the Crusaders - now defiled by demonic cultists. Along the northern wall of this room, a frieze depicts a line of mounted crusaders crashing over a horde of twisted demons. The crusaders' faces have been obliterated and vile graffiti is carved over the entire scene. Fresh blood stains the floor.
After finally managing to successfully jimmy the lock, Thesius steps back. His hands deftly restoring the lockpicks to their rightful place before pulling out his bow based on Irabeths' earlier instructions.
Prepping for what is inside, he readies a shot with a cold iron arrows to attack any demon that might come into view, preferring not to waste his limited supply on less otherworldly cultists.
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Thamyris pops out of Verene's sleeve to observe the goings-on about half a minute after the vermleks were dealt with, but as Thesius draws back from the picked lock and Irabeth steps up to open the door, she murmurs to him, "Now, my dear." He huddles back against her white-scaled neck and melds into it again. She waits tensely for the door to swing open.
Elliot hesitates momentarily, watching Terendelev's scale and wondering if it was too soon to use rght away, but decides to activate the last charge to reduce his size and increase his speed. He also casts Chill Touch just to have it ready, and another charge of the shield wand just prior to the door opening. With most of his potential buffs in place, he readies himself for the onslaught beyond.
Merixia peers into the door, pointing her wand inside. What she does next depends on whether there are any enemies visible.
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Unfortunately, Elliot's elemental form seems unstable and wavers, and when it shifts a final time he turns into...
...A grippli.
"Really?" He asks himself, exasperated, as he glances over his toad form. "...If we make this, please do me a favor and pretend this mishap never happened," he states, staring straight ahead and deliberately not making eye contact with anyone.
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As the doors swing open, a group of blade-wielding tieflings erupt from the west , but the heroes are prepared for them.
As soon as she sees the enemies emerge as a cluster, Verene unleashes a powerful burst of light that blazes through the tieflings. It sears their flesh, and they scream in agony as four of them topple to the ground.
Another emerges - apparently having not been affected at all, and Azira flows forwards, Radiance flashing with holy power. Her strike nearly bisects the cultist, who screams as his blood splashes across her face and arms.
Irabeth joins her fellow paladin, attacking the last-coming tiefling with her longsword. Though her form is far more direct and less graceful than her counterpart's, it is no less effective, cutting down the last of the tieflings.
Silence falls over the small area, giving the party and their companions a chance to survey their surroundings. To the west, five tieflings lie prone, seared by the power of Verene's spell, and beyond them is another room. To the heroes' right , there's another room that looks equally befouled to the one in which they have entered.
Irabeth scowls - her orcish features exaggerating the expression. "Alright. Looks like we've handled these ones at least. I don't know this area well, so we'll have to be cautious. Well done, everyone. That was quick and efficient."
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Azira gives the commander an appreciative nod as she crouches next to one of the cultists and uses its tunic to wipe the blood from Radiance. “Barok,” she calls quietly, “can you please start searching these bodies- see if any of them have any keys we might need, or any potions or scrolls or anything that might help us get through here?”
Turning back to her new companions she offers, “I don’t know if you had a system when you were in the catacombs, but we should probably agree on something now to make sure we don’t miss anything in here, or get bogged down trying to choose doors… maybe keep right as much as we can and then work our way to the left until we’ve searched the whole floor, or vice versa?”
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Merixia lets out a low whistle. "Nice job, you three!" She follows the paladin duo into the room, sword in one hand and wand in the other. "Keeping to one side sounds fine to me." They have to sweep the whole place anyway, so it doesn't matter to her which way they go first.
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"Yeah, that... was rrrrreally impressive. Good job, sis and Azirrrra. You too, commanderrrrr," grippli Elliot croaks, as he leans down to help searching the bodies. "Sticking to the outer edge and slowly worrrrrking inwarrrrd seems fine to me. We would prrrrrrobably do well to subdue as much rrrrrrrresistance as we can on the way. The morrrrre of them we get here, the less of them can escape to torrrrrment the civilians. And the less we have to worrrry about being flanked by any cultists we miss."
"And maybe we'll find my family here somewhere? Though I really, really hope not..."
Silence falls over the small area, giving the party and their companions a chance to survey their surroundings. To the west, five tieflings lie prone, seared by the power of Verene's spell, and beyond them is another room. To the heroes' right down, there's another room that looks equally befouled to the one in which they have entered.
Irabeth scowls - her orcish features exaggerating the expression. "Alright. Looks like we've handled these ones at least. I don't know this area well, so we'll have to be cautious. Well done, everyone. That was quick and efficient."
Verene goes perfectly still for a moment, staring unblinking at the five seared tieflings' bodies on the floor to the west. Her small reptilian face has no minute shifts of expression to betray her thoughts, as her more mobile human features might.
Without responding to the others' praise, she slips in the door behind Irabeth and fits herself into the corner. Varel likewise steals in and plants himself on the other side of the westward door, picking his way over the swiftly growing pool of blood from Azira and Irabeth's targets. "I will try to divine the direction of the Wardsstone from here. We want to reach it as quickly as posssible, yes?" The slightly increased sibilance of her whisper is the only indication that her thoughts might be distracted, enough to not pay careful attention to her pronunciation with the unfamiliar vocal apparatus of the kobold form.
While the others search the bodies, she draws a small forked twig from her spell component pouch and lets it rest on the tips of three clawed fingers as she closes her eyes and falls into concentration. The thaumaturgic words are slow and strong, as deliberate as pebbles dropped into a pond. She attunes the twig by picturing the Wardstone as clearly as she can, then stops trying to do anything at all and lets her attention drift.
In some ways, divination magic is like meditation or prayer. One first quiets the active mind, clearing it of all stray thoughts to make it a receptive medium for external impressions. Separating and suppressing what arises from the self is crucial to entering that state of focused awareness in which subtle numinous phenomena can make themselves known. It is a bit like listening for something on the upper edge of hearing, or keeping one's hand very still in the pebble-disturbed pond to feel what the ripples reveal of the underwater topography.
The important difference is that sometimes divination gives an answer. And when it results in nothing, one can be fairly sure that it is because there is nothing to find within the limitations of the spell, and not because one is being ignored.
Thesius falls into line behind the rest after watching the awesome display of might play out in front of them, the bow still nocked with the cold iron arrow resting on his hip as he waits for Verene's guidance.
"I'm ready to proceed when you are."
Irabeth nods. "Alright. It seems as good a plan as any."
The Children quickly search through the pockets of the tieflings. "Nothing of interest. There is merely a handful of gold, as well as their weapons and armor." Hedge says briefly.
Lorn peeks into the western room. "This seems to be a rest room or meeting area. There are cards on the table within. No threats, however."
"It'ss here," Verene breathes absently. She moves slowly about the room in no particular pattern, keeping her lifted hand with the forked stick pointed toward the little tug she feels as though it were the needle of a compass. After a few seconds she reports with a greater effort not to hiss her sibilants: "It's close. Above our heads, and directly east as we came in the door. Second or third floor, southeast quadrant of the building. That is where we must go."
She tucks the forked stick away, no longer needing it to feel the slight magnetic pull that is the attunement between herself and the tiny sun of the artifact's power.
Recalling something said by Azira and Elliot, she adds, "Until we find the stairs up, sticking to the outer edge and working our way inward sounds fine to me. I am ready."
Verene looks into the room the tieflings came from, to make sure there are no doors or stairs leading out of it; then, if she sees none, she positions herself just behind the front line as the group moves on.
Elliot nods towards the empty room. "Let's use Detect Magic on everrrry rrrroom we pass. Even if it's empty, to make surrrre we miss nothing. Then we move on as fast as we can." He suggests, as everyone gets ready to move on.
"Good idea, Elliot. I will keep the fiend-detecting cantrip up, if you want to detect for magic, Thesius." Although at first she is wary that separately entering the state of concentration needed to feel for the jangling wrongness of evil outsiders will interfere with the pull of the artifact, Verene tries it and is pleased to find that the tug is now an attenuated state that does not need her active attention, and seems independent of other spells she casts. So with a muttered word and gesture, she sinks into the unfocused awareness that 'listens' for fiends in front of them as she goes.
Divination has never been Merixia's strong suit. She follows Verene and Thesius' lead, wary for more cultists. Or demons. Or cultists AND demons.
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"Sounds like a solid plan," he will say before summoning forth the power of his cantrip to reveal magical auras to him. "I will take up behind the front line in case I am needed to unlock a door."
The heroes and their companions move quickly into the next room. It is a horror show - a bracket shows where a longsword once hung over a stylized gold sunburst affixed to the south wall. Lines of strange runes are carved into the walls on both sides of the sunburst. Dried blood and excrement have been smeared across the sunburst and a short bench for kneeling that sits on the floor.
Inside, there are also two doors - one directly ahead, and one to the party's right. Both are shut, leaving no hint as to what manner of threats might lurk behind them.
Thesius surveys the room with his detect magic, making not of the scene laid out before him.
"This temple of Iomadae has seen better days, do we dare spare the time to put it into a better state? We have pressing matters at hand, so it may be best to leave it for later."
With a look of curiosity, his eyes go from the bracket to Radiance.
"Verene, do you recall if that bracket is where Radiance use to reside?" he asks while trying to wrack his brain for any memory of such.
Merixia frowns at the sight of the desecrated shrine, her expression pained. "I wish we could... but we simply don't have the time. There's no way of knowing how far along the enemy is with their ritual to corrupt the Wardstone." Every fiber in her body urges her to keep moving. To find the Wardstone and stop the demons from turning its power to their purposes. We have to succeed. We have to.
"Normally I would agree, but I just thought of something... do you remember how Iomedae seemed to bless Azira when we cleaned up a similarly desecrated shrine on the way back from the Tower of Esrod to the Heart?" Elliot wonders, speaking very slowly and carefully as to sound normal despite his transfiguration. "Perhaps she would grant a similar blessing to us if we were to take the time? Though there is the issue that both Thesius and myself are currently under Terendelevs enhancing magic. I would recommend moving on for now and making the most of the magic we now have active, subdueing what resistance we can, and perhaps coming back here when it ends," He suggests.
Verene surveys the desecrated shrine carefully but dispassionately. Her snout does not even wrinkle in disgust, though it likely could not in any case. On the scale of the atrocities they have witnessed over the past week, this vandalism hardly rates a mention. "No fiendish presence in here. I wouldn't know about where Radiance was kept, Thesius. I vaguely knew it was in a museum somewhere, but not which, and it was news to me that it had even been stolen. Although if it was kept right out in the open like this, it becomes less surprising that the... paragons of competence in the Templars of the Ivory Labyrinth were able to swipe it." Her hissing whisper is desert-dry.
"This vandalism is unfortunate, to be sure, but we must be practical. Even if Iomedae would approve of Azira for doing something about it, it is not just Azira here, and all our spells are wearing off as we speak," she continues calmly, with just a hint of impatience. "I agree we should proceed while we still have them active, for I highly doubt the unhappy souls behind us were the Garrison's only defenders besides the vermleks. Merixia is also right that they could already be conducting part of the ritual to corrupt the broken Wardstone; or Areelu Vorlesh could be on her way right now to complete it. We simply don't know how much time we have. Add this to the list of things we will do something about if we survive, along with Hulrun Shappok, Kandro Nyserian, and the tiefling guards' bodies."
She turns to the door, ready to continue.
Azira’s beautiful face twists into a sneer of disgust and righteous anger at the sight of the bespoiled shrine. It quickly fades to sadness though when the conversation appears to be leading towards leaving it for the time being. “Verene, don’t you have that cleaning spell?” she practically pleads. “I know we have to keep moving, you’re right, we can’t spend minutes cleaning while others are dying, but surely we can afford one spell? I have holy water… I was going to use it for demons, but I don’t really need it with Radiance- If you could just remove the filth, or even just most of it, I’ll sprinkle some holy water and we can move on. Please.”
Irabeth nods. "If you can do so, Verene, I would appreciate it. If you think we must put it off, then we must put it off... but..." She moves over, taking out a handkerchief and briefly wipes the shrine down. "If not, that'll have to be sufficient."
"Huh... hang on a moment." She looks up at the sunburst. "Something's written here. In... Celestial. I don't know what it says." From a kneeling position before the shrine, it does indeed show Celestial lettering.
Azira follows the commander to the shrine while awaiting Verene’s response and helps to wipe it down with the hem of her dress. When the orc points out the celestial writing she reads it aloud as it’s written, then repeats in the common tongue, “Let us inherit thine arms, Iomedae.”
“Verene, don’t you have that cleaning spell?” she practically pleads. “I know we have to keep moving, you’re right, we can’t spend minutes cleaning while others are dying, but surely we can afford one spell? I have holy water… I was going to use it for demons, but I don’t really need it with Radiance- If you could just remove the filth, or even just most of it, I’ll sprinkle some holy water and we can move on. Please.”
Irabeth nods. "If you can do so, Verene, I would appreciate it. If you think we must put it off, then we must put it off... but..." She moves over, taking out a handkerchief and briefly wipes the shrine down. "If not, that'll have to be sufficient."
"I'm afraid I don't have it," Verene replies to both paladins, not unkindly. The shrine itself left her unmoved, but to see the pretty child's distress would wring anyone's heart. "I never prepare it when we may see combat, because Thesius always has it available to him and I want us to have the widest spread of capabilities possible. It is up to him to judge if we can afford the time." She looks at Thesius neutrally, trusting his judgment.
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A smile plays upon Thesius' lips as he listens to Elliot accidental exclusion of Verene. Ah yes, she has always looked like this he thinks to himself.
Upon listening to the plea for assistance with at least giving the shrine a quick cleaning and having Verene present him as the one most apt for doing such, he quickly invokes his magic and goes about giving the area a quick cleanse.
Finally, his eyes go back once more to the bracket upon the wall. It did seem odd that one would leave a relic in such a spot, but it felt like something should be there. He would have to look into it further should they get the chance to return.
"With that, I am ready to continue as soon as the rest of your are."
Merixia nods approvingly at the cleaned shrine. "It's a good start, and all we can afford to do right now. Given the inscription, I'd say it's likely that this is where Radiance used to hang." She looks at Verene. "Which way from here?"
Elliot waits to see if Azira's statement of the reading had any effect. If not, he would try to kneel, reach for any depictions of arms as either appendages or weapons on the shrine, and repeats the words in celestial. "You're not my goddess, I know. But please, Lady Iomedae, we need whatever help we can get. Surely there is more to these words? Or is it a password of sorts for another room perhaps?"
Should nothing happen, he commits the line to memory and nods. "Okay, let's go. Let's hope these words help us somewhere further on.
”Thank you, Thesius,” Azira says earnestly as she uncorks a vial of holy water. She quietly mutters one of the first prayers her mother ever taught her as she sprinkles it around the magically cleansed chamber.
Verene smiles at Thesius in gratitude for his quick and no-nonsense use of the spell, keeping the group moving.
"We agreed on keeping right, yes? So, this southern door, I suppose. The Wardstone is almost directly above us and just a bit to the south," Verene answers Merixia, pointing with her free hand in the exact direction of the pull. "Now we just need to find the stairs."
She waits politely enough while Elliot and Azira pray at and try to interact with the newly cleaned shrine, although her disinterested glance indicates she is not expecting much.
The words seem to have no effect, but the heroes do feel a sense of brief warmth filling them as they finish cleaning off the shrine. Irabeth smiles briefly at Thesius. "Thank you, all of you. It... means a lot." With a quick sigh, she looks towards the door. "Alright. Let's move."
The party approaches the door, and Thesius quickly looks it over for traps. Though he finds none, he does hear high-pitched voices speaking in a language he recognizes as Celestial, though he doesn't understand the words. The tone is mocking.
Thesius hesitates as the door, the disturbing sounds assaulting his ears. "The door seems safe, but something resides beyond that is making a mockery in the celestial tongue. I recognize it from lessons with Verene, but unfortunately I cannot make out what they are saying...it makes me feel that urgency is of even more import at this time.
He quickly falls back into line, ready to follow the team.
"Demonic presence just beyond this door," warns Verene, perhaps unnecessarily after Thesius's own warning. She glances at Elliot, calculating something, and seems to come to a decision. "I agree, Thesius. Let's give them a surprise. Ready?"
The very moment it seems everyone has readied themselves — the Children have arrows on the string ready to loose and the melee types have weapons in hand — Verene steps up and uses all her strength to jerk the door open, standing to one side of it.
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Ooh, a demonic presence? Nice. Hopefully everyone in the next room is a demon, so Elliot doesn't feel obligated to offer them a chance to surrender. "Allow me, Verene." Merixia is the one with the heavy armor, it's better if she enters first. She tests the door to see if it's locked, then kicks it open with a loud slam. "TIME TO DIE, DEMON SCUM!"
Behind her, Lorn aims a cold iron arrow at the door.
With the plan made, Elliot recasts Shield from the wand and stands aside when Merixia asks for tne honors. Despite the situation, he can't quite help but chuckle in amusement over her dynamic entry and follows her into the room, sword drawn.
Once everyone is prepared Merixia throws open the door, revealing the ruined room within. It was once the museum, but its contents have been smashed and scattered across the room-even the shelves have been shattered and torn apart in places. The decapitated bodies of two knights, their armor and bodies broken and mangled, lie in the ruins.
The likely culprits of both the destruction and the decapitations stand in the center of the room, heads snapping towards the door as Merixia throws it open. Three familiar demons - abrikandilus, like the demon that destroyed Fine Fittings.
Lorn fires her arrow at one of the abrikandilu , despite the intervening individuals in the way. Unfortunately, the arrow thuds into the doorframe, rather than into the demonic beast she aims at. The woman curses in Hallit.
While Elliot uses the wand to refresh his magical protection, Azira briefly contemplates whether she would have been better off spending less time on her swordplay and more time learning some magic. The idea quickly fades however as she remembers the potions she’s acquired. In preparation for the demons, she draws one and drinks it.
Focus on killing one as fast as possible before moving on to the next, if you can,” she advises as the three demons come into view, “it’ll mean less attacks coming back at us.” While she speaks, she steps into the room and slashes at the demon to the left of the door .
Following her guidance, Barok fires a cold-iron arrow at the same target.
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Abrikandilus! Verene prepared for this. She reaches to the side of her backpack, where she tucked the steel mirror purchased at the Defender's Heart for just this occasion into a net pouch, and pulls it free. Brandishing it in one clawed hand, she slips between and past the two green-skinned, goat-legged wrecker demons, still dully gaping at Merixia's dramatic entrance, before they can gather their wits to react. She has to get closer: she needs them to be able to see the mirror, but does not want to stand in the way of Irabeth or another fighter reaching the foul creatures.
The headless armored bodies on the floor are so mangled and broken that they hardly register as former people, which is a mercy, since she must lope over them to reach her destination against the far wall. Verene turns around and swings the mirror between the two closer abrikandilus one after the other as she taunts them in hissing Abyssal, an edge of malicious laughter in her shrill kobold's voice.
Varel moves to Verene's former position in order to get a shot off through the doorway at the abrikandilu Azira attacked, mindful of the paladin's instruction to focus their strength upon bringing it down.
Elliot rushes in, spreading out with Azira while Hedge fires!
Just as the arrow wooshes past and Verene draws their attention to the mirror, Elliot cuts into yellow - althewhile thankful his sister was so resourceful, and his friends so brave.
"Hopefully we can take them out quickly... with their pencheant for destruction, I really don't want them to get any bright ideas and start breaking our weapons or such. I have a mend scroll, but it's only one, and it's kind of reserved for Radiance or Righteous Eclipse..."
Demons! Battle lust and the familiar righteous fury that such creatures dare exist on Golarion fill Merixia's veins. She grins, showing too many teeth, and darts to one side to face the two demons to her left. Thesius and Irabeth will want to get in on the action too. The cleric raises her sword and slashes at the same demon Azira hit.
Thesius and Jan both pull forth a cold iron arrow and nock it within their respective weapons, lining their shots up upon the demon now occupied by Elliot. Respectively they let their shots fire.
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Azira moves forwards, slashing with her golden blade at her foe, who is still off-guard from the sudden arrival of the heroes. She cuts easily through the demonic flesh, and it falls back with a screech of agony. Even as it does, Barok fires his bow at the demon, lancing it in the shoulder and cracking its bone.
Hedge fires his bow, though it sparks off of the wall next to the door rather than even getting into the room beyond. Elliot moves through, Righteous Eclipse hungry for blood as it lashes out and bites deep into the demon's skin, devouring its life-force as it does so. The abrikandilu's flesh grows grey even as the magus tears free his black blade with a spray of rotting blood.
Thesius moves forwards, shortbow drawn and ready. With the blessing of Desna surging through his veins, he nocks his arrow and fires it at the demon threatening Elliot, hoping to finish it off. However, the magus' presence throws off his aim just enough that the demon's rough hide deflects the arrow. Jan fires as well, but like Hedge, the arrow bounces uselessly off of the wall.
"This is not working! We must perforce engage in melee!" Jan says grimly.
Verene thinks quickly and scurries forwards, presenting a mirror to the wrecker demons. Each shrieks in fury at the sight of their own hideous reflections, turning to face the kobold-shaped wizard. Like his kindred, Varel's shot is less than useful - though it slips through the door, the demon's hide is too strong and the arrow only sticks in the creature's stomach for a moment before falling out.
Merixia follows, rage pulsing in her veins as she lifts her bastard sword to attack. Unfortunately, her anger blinds her, and the blade nearly takes off Azira's head rather than her foe's.
The most wounded of the abrikandilu screeches its fury, a noise that swiftly grows louder and shriller until it resonates with the steel, but Verene fights off its magical attack with an effort of will, keeping her mirror intact.
Its other wounded fellow instead focuses on Elliot, who so badly hurt it moments before. Thanks to his smaller form, the magus is only just able to avoid its gnashing teeth, but its claws are less useful, as he deflects them with his blade.
The last of the demons steps quickly out of Merixia's reach, focusing... but nothing happens whatsoever.
Irabeth steps quickly into the room, lashing out with her blade at Azira's target. With expert skill, she carves deep into its stomach, bypassing its guard with quick precise strikes... but the blade does not penetrate quite so well as it ought.
Elliot dodges the incoming strikes, then circles around the yellowish demon to make room for others to follow!
Unfortunately, he fumbles, perhaps worried over seeing his sister in the center of all the attacks...
Hedge, meanwhile, hangs back, remembering his or her job was to survive first and foremost, and it didn't seem like risky actions were needed yet.
Verene clutches at the mirror as it shudders and resonates strangely to the pitch of the abrikandilu's screech, almost as though it is trying to leap from her grasp. She keeps hold of it, though, not fighting the contortions of the steel and letting the vibrations pass harmlessly up her arm.
She drops her crossbow to let it hang from its strap, draws her dagger with that hand and makes a well-placed but cautious strike, hardly more than a feint, against the abrikandilu that turned to her. Despite choosing what looks like a sensitive spot and an opportune moment, her weak arm and the mundane steel makes it unlikely the demon will feel it as anything more than an ineffectual pin-prick, and she is clearly intending to slip to the side if her taunting tactics make the abrikandilu choose to ignore the more dangerous fighters to focus its rage on her.
More importantly, she keeps the mirror up in her off hand, swiveling toward both abrikandilus in turn, and speaks again in Abyssal, her tone reasonable but for that edge of hissing mockery.
Out in the shrine room, Varel is stoic in the face of his first miss. He fluidly draws another arrow, puts it to the string, and sends it hissing over Azira's shoulder into her target.