Elliot continues watching the doors, still expecting another demon attack at any moment while the discussion progressed. He paces about uneasily and is relieved when the wand provides a workable way out for the prisoners.
"Agreed, Thesius. Let's fall back to Staunton's office first. Whatever is behind that wall was made to be a trap. Whatever is in his office is something they probably do not want us to have or know." He reasons, and behind heading back towards Vhane's office.
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Still, she listens carefully to Verene's suggestions, and opens her mouth to reply, but the kobold-wizard disappears for the final time.
Having decided to go to recover the documents and any valuables in Staunton's chambers, the champions make their way (somewhat cautiously) back through the Templars' Court and the hole they made in the wall into the Officer's Court. There are no signs of any demonic presence along the way.
However, there are a handful of tieflings missing from the dead they'd left behind. Perhaps they'd missed a few? Fortunately, all of the half-fiend minotaurs are still there.
"... we should've been more thorough about finishing them off." Nurah opines darkly.
Thesius nods in understanding. "A lesson learned, though they might not have walked off either."
Not wishing to waste time, he quickly makes his way to the doors leading into Staunton's room and starts to look for potential traps, taking the time to disable them if present, and finally assessing if the door is locked if no traps are found.
If the door is locked, he'll use the key to unlock it before stepping back to allow the more durable members of the party the right of way in case an enemy is in the room. His bow at the ready.
"I thought we were thorough about it. Maybe someone raised them as undead." Verene is fairly sure Merixia beheaded the tieflings and demons that were left alive by Elliot's sword. She makes sure her shield is renewed and checks through the door for any fiendish presences or magic while Thesius is examining it.
Merixia scowls at the pools of blood where there used to be corpses. "I double checked and killed any who were still alive. I always check the bodies." After all, vengeance is not complete until you've either dragged the guilty to jail (along with all evidence necessary to convict them) or made certain they're dead.
"Well, so long as Staunton is dead, we did well enough. If they're merely animating the dead, they should be much weaker the second time around. And you need very expensive components to fully resurrect the dead back to normal. I wouldn't suspect the demons keep many diamonds worth many thousands of gold just lying around for a rainy day. And then, even if they did, they would still need more powerful magic and large amounts of diamond dust to get back to full health," Elliot says, then freezes as he gets a dreadful feeling of foreboding. "Wait. If the Tieflings are missing, what about Staunton? " Should his body not be in sight, he looks into the adjacent room where the dwarf fell, ready for anything.
"Staunton's remains were... a mess," Azira offers as she too looks to make sure they are still present. "I don't know the first thing about magic, let alone necromancy, but I'm not sure he could have been animated as anything like his old self..."
please, Iomedae, let it be so... and if he was, we may need to start investing in more holy water so we can douse all the corpses we leave behind...
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Nurah considers carefully. "Maybe the succubus took them away?" She suggests, then shakes her head. "No, that seems... unlikely. She wouldn't have had the time, would she?" The halfling bard seems somewhat shaken.
Elliot advances into the next room, where there are yet more corpses, one of which is definitely the pile of meat that Azira left Staunton's corpse as.
"Is he still in there?" Nurah follows after the magus, looking around him. "Looks like he is..."
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"It has been about one minute since the succubus — Janeamine, I suppose — teleported away from us. If she moved multiple bodies out of sight in that time, she had help."
Verene studies Staunton's corpse carefully, relieved to see it is still present and at least has not been immediately raised.
Then she focuses her attention on the spell checking for any fiendish presence ahead of them through the door to Staunton's bedroom.
"I... think someone disturbed his remains, though I'm not fully sure. It's hard to estimate how much of him is still here and what might be missing," Elliot says to Nurah and the others, wincing as he looks at Jhoran. "Sorry, I didn't mean to be insensitive. However, the demons would only need some small part of him to resurrect him, if that is their plan. And if it is, they might have gotten away with it while we were elsewhere. Maybe we should take the rest of Staunton's remains with us so this cannot happen again. It also might boost the crusader's morale to see one of the enemy commanders beaten."
The magus' fatigue is clear as the party moves into the office. "Let's search this place quickly and withdraw for today as we planned."
"...Note to self, start keeping a shovel in the bag of holding." This is going to be nasty. Maybe she can improvise something from the furniture in the room. Merixia follows Elliot, sword at the ready.
"We may want to focus on the room prior to the body. If no threat presents itself within, we can then perhaps split between searching the room and gathering his remains," Thesius notes while gesturing to the door as he steps away from it after having looked for traps and unlocking the door if necessary.
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Thesius finds no signs of any traps on the door, nor does Verene detect any fiendish presences. Thus, Thesius uses the key he'd taken from Staunton's corpse to unlock it. Pushing it cautiously open, he reveals a plush bedroom. It is immaculate to the point of spotlessness. The bed sheets are tight against the mattress, and no splinters mar the floor near the well-used sparring dummy in one corner, despite its obvious heavy use. An inkwell, a blotter, and a black quill sit atop an otherwise bare desk, with a three-legged stool pushed out of the way underneath. A single large chest sits at the foot of the bed.
Joran looks around, then snorts. "As meticulous as always."
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Perception +27
Disable Device +19
Thesius will quickly take stock of the room from the doorway before doing a once over for traps now that the door is open.
If no danger presents itself, he will continue.
"Verene, please do a scan for anything magical while I start looking for any traps and items of interest," he asks while moving into the room. He'll pull out his thieves' tools as he does so.
Thesius starts to move into the room, before suddenly stopping. Knowing what lies in another room, he takes a dagger and launches it at the chest to see how it reacts.
If nothing happens, he continues forward to investigate it. Looking it over for traps and whether it is locked
Verene recognizes the spotless bedroom she saw in a brief moment during her failed scrying attempt. She scans the room for magic and fiendish presences while Thesius does the same for traps. She takes any documents that are obviously present in the room and adds them to the haversack.
Azira lingers in the doorway, Radiance at the ready, while the others press into the room and begin searching.
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Thesius scans the room thoroughly, but sees no signs of any dangers. He moves towards the chest and stabs it with a dagger - which thunks heavily into its top to no effect other than to scar the thick wood.
Verene detects a large number of magical auras, mostly focused on the chest. There's still no signs of any fiendish presences here.
Using the key, he opens it to reveal a treasure trove.
Inside the coffer there are even more treasures - three potions of different sorts, and a single wand.
Nurah lets out a low whistle at the sight. "Wonder where he got all of that? It can't all be from looting this place, can it?"
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"Merixia would you please load this into the bag of holding while I continue to search the room? I think it better we further explore these items once we are out of here," he asks before moving to the desk to search it next. Keeping an eye out for any traps and hidden compartments as he does so.
Perception +27
Disable Device +19
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"Ooh, a book. I wonder if he kept a diary? Or maybe it's the demons' secret plans!" Merixia looks over at Verene. "Would you check it for magic once we're back at camp? It would be a shame if it was spelled to go up in flames if someone other than Staunton opened it." She absolutely learned about such spells from her mentor. A destructive book ward wasn't a plot device in her favorite series of novels, not at all.
"Merixia would you please load this into the bag of holding while I continue to search the room? I think it better we further explore these items once we are out of here," he asks before moving to the desk to search it next.
"Of course! Hopefully none of this is cursed..." Merixia eyes the figurines distrustfully. The coins are likely safe enough though. The cleric pulls the bag of holding out of her backpack and begins scooping gold and platinum into its extradimensional space.
Verene blinks at the sparkling treasures revealed inside the chest, but reaches straight for the book as the most precious of all, and pops it unopened into the magical backpack. Merixia makes a good point that it could be cursed.
"Yes, let's save our curiosity for when we have more time. Many of these objects are magical, unsurprisingly, but I think we do not want to spend the minutes it would take to study any of them now," she reports. "As for its provenance, this could be part of the wealth that Drezen would have held seventy-five years ago, when it fell. But it was probably not all looted from the citadel. Until very recently, after all, Staunton Vhane was considered a crusader in good standing. For all those decades, his Hammers of Heaven mercenary company's wages were coming directly from Crusade coffers. And who knows what his demon masters were paying him on the side."
She helps Merixia load the treasure into the bag of holding as quickly as may be done. In the end it seems most expedient to shovel the coins, unsorted and uncounted, into the extradimensional space to be dealt with later. The lighter and more delicate objects, like the pearl, scroll, figurines, vases and silver coffer, she puts into the handy haversack instead.
"Well. Do we dare go back for the mimics and false Sword of Valor, or shall we leave directly?"
Once everything is collected, Thesius is finished searching the room , and Staunton's body has been rolled into a blanket , Verene motions everyone near enough to lay a hand on her shoulder or horns, and again calls on the Wardstone power, her eyes flaring into points of solid glowing white as she casts one of the last spells she had memorized this morning.
Upon the spell's completion, she immediately disappears, and in her place appears a shimmering archway that would be invisible to anyone but her chosen transportees. Since Azira, Elliot, Joran, Merixia, Nurah, Thesius, and Wulfric were already touching her and are then touching the archway, they see the silvery shape only for a moment before the world changes around them, and they arrive abruptly but without fanfare outside in the citadel's courtyard, grouped around her just as they were inside Staunton's office.
Mindful of Irabeth's stricture not to teleport into the command center directly, Verene has taken them all to just outside its doors. She taps politely for entry. "We are back, with much to report. My apologies for my abruptness earlier. Getting the prisoners to safety was a priority, but I also did not want our spells to wear off while we might still have to fight."
After being admitted, and while the others are explaining the results of their mission, she casts her magic-detection cantrip again and begins by digging out of her own and Merixia's extradimensional storage spaces all the items that might be magical. Once she has determined which ones are, she sets these aside and begins a more thorough inspection of their auras to identify their properties, taking care never to touch the evil intelligent glaive with her bare hands.
Azira blinks several times as her eyes adjust to sudden increase in light when they arrive outside. "Thank you, my friend," she whispers to Radiance, "you danced beautifully." For the first time since entering the citadel, she sheathes the golden blade before entering the command center. Once inside, she remains quiet, choosing to allow those more knowledgeable on types of demons and the like to make the report.
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Merixia has definitely been through the wars. Her somewhat battered armor is covered in blood; her own and that of her enemies, red humanoid blood and black demon blood. She carries a large bundle wrapped in a bloodstained blanket. Despite that, the cleric is smiling. She looks rather like a cat presenting her person with a freshly killed mouse. "Hi, Commander! We brought you a present!" She hefts the bundle in her arms with a squishing sound. "It's kind of messy, though, so I'm going to put it just outside the door." Stepping backward through the door, she turns to place her burden to one side so as not to block entrance, then reenters the command center.
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A more thorough search of Staunton's offices reveals little else of interest or value - at least without taking more time than they likely would prefer. Thus, the champions and their varied companions (and prisoners) teleport back to the town of Drezen, near the command post.
The paladins on guard wave the group through, though one does give Merixia a severe frown as she pulls her "prize" inside, and then yet another as she pulls it out. 'You know someone's going to have to dispose of that, right?' the glare says.
The paladins do take Joran and Nurah (unless challenged on the latter)
Irabeth and the rest of the command staff look at the champions. The Knight-Commander looks visibly relieved, while Sosiel offers them a smile. "Welcome back." The priest says, glancing over them. "A few minor injuries - you've exhausted a lot of healing, I assume." He unleashes a burst of iridescent radiance from his holy symbol, soothing the rest of the hurts the heroes have suffered.
"So," Irabeth says wryly as Merixia retreats to dispose of her prize. "I take it you got rid of Staunton." She straightens. "Full report, if you will."
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Thesius steps into the tent with the others, nodding his greeting before offering Sosiel a smile and thanks for the healing.
If the map is not still laid out, he asks for it to be. Then he proceeds to recount their encounters in the order they occurred.
"As planned we arrived here before proceeding forward to catch Staunton and his half-fiend minotaur guards by surprise here. During the fight he was joined by a number babaus, additional half-fiend minotuars, his brother Joran, and some tielflings. Joran is the only one to survive and was taken into custody after his surrender," he says while moving his finger along the map to detail their path.
Continuing to map out their route with his finger, Thesius continues, "A group of tielfings were thwarted in their assassination attempt on Joran shortly after before we found our path south blocked. Instead, Merixia brought us to the center of the compound with her magic to help us prioritize the captives. Unfortunately we were met with a large group consisting of a vrock, the hunch backed tiefling we met at the bridge and his dretch summons, a handful of fiendish gargoyles, a handful of archers, and a handful of brimarks which all were dispatched by the end of the fight."
Tapping his finger on the chapel, he finishes his report on the enemies, "Finally, we faced off against the Keystones of Lozeri and their succubus captor. Unfortunately the succubus Janeamine escaped while the group was focused on trying to identify her and subdue the enchanted warriors."
"During this time, Nurah actively helped where she could and Joran even offered insight into their workings. It seems likely he is hoping to escape his demonic servitude," he offers at the end to make sure the group was aware Joran seemed willing to work with them and to make sure Nurah's efforts were recognized.
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”I remain wary of both,” Azira offers in response to the report on Nurah and Joran, ”but Thesius speaks true: both were helpful during our incursion, and both had ample opportunity to flee our custody but chose not to. Even I must confess that if they are not earnestly seeking a new path then they are extraordinarily committed to deceiving us.”
As Thesius and Azira summarize the events of the day so far, Verene does not interrupt, but makes quick notes in her journal about the items as she identifies them, so that she can quickly relay them later. Her false images are gone, but she still wears the kobold form.
"During this time, Nurah actively helped where she could and Joran even offered insight into their workings. It seems likely he is hoping to escape his demonic servitude," he offers at the end to make sure the group was aware Joran seemed willing to work with them and to make sure Nurah's efforts were recognized.
”I remain wary of both,” Azira offers in response to the report on Nurah and Joran, ”but Thesius speaks true: both were helpful during our incursion, and both had ample opportunity to flee our custody but chose not to. Even I must confess that if they are not earnestly seeking a new path then they are extraordinarily committed to deceiving us.”
"Joran is a cleric of Droskar, but does not seem to be particularly in charity with his god," Verene adds absently, her gaze unfocused as she examines the second-to-last potion.
"Nor did he seem fond of Staunton or the other demon-cultists." The businesslike way in which he had caved in the half-fiend minotaur's skull was proof enough of that, to her. "He is callous and self-serving enough to switch sides as soon as it was clear he could not win, and to betray his former allies' secrets easily in order to curry some small favor with us. But I think he wants to change beyond the superficial, if we could only show him something he can believe in; something or someone worthy of his loyalty, as Droskar and Staunton were not. I only wish I knew what that should be. —This is a potion to neutralize poison. So far, we also have some flaming arrows, six potions to cure moderate wounds, three potions that grant a shield of faith, a moderately powerful cloak of resistance, a minor amulet to toughen the skin like armor, a pearl of power for second-tier spells, a rod that detects metals and minerals within thirty feet, a scroll of divination, and an elixir to make one temporarily faster and more nimble."
She turns most of her attention to the final potion, a strangely viscous and metallic silvery liquid, and continues her previous thought. "Nurah, too, was more helpful than she had to be. She used her spells fairly effectively on our behalf, and it was she who told us that the mercenary-crusader prisoners we saw are the missing Keystones of Lozeri. Speaking of which, I would like to attempt to speak to them, examine the magics on them, and perhaps start breaking those enchantments next. I hope they are safe and having their injuries trea..."
Verene trails off, blinks hard, and then lifts the viscous silvery potion to her eyeline to examine it very closely for several more seconds in silence. "This is not a potion," she says slowly. "It is an oil of life. A true resurrection in a bottle, created from the quicksilver of an actual philosopher's stone. It is almost unimaginably precious."
She sounds mildly breathless, which is to say, more stunned than she has seemed since being told that the actual Queen of Mendev wanted to meet with them back in Kenabres. But her mind is clicking through possibilities, and it lands almost immediately on Terendelev. Might this oil succeed at bringing the great dragon back, where the clerics' efforts had failed?
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Irabeth listens to the reports, her expression thoughtful. "Hm. Sounds like you had a tough time... but if you killed that many enemies, the Keep will be that much easier to take if we try to storm it. I'm not exactly eager to do that yet, but I appreciate it nonetheless."
"I've heard of Joran Vhane." Aron says. "Before the Hammers of Heaven were revealed," he nods at Irabeth, "he was supposedly a cleric of Torag."
"I don't think we should trust either of them - at least not yet." Anevia agrees with Azira. "But if Verene's right, well. He'd know a lot that we could use."
"Assuming we could trust him to be truthful." Irabeth says, though she sounds like she agrees. "From your impression of him, would you say that he'd lie to us if he thought we'd want to hear something?" She shakes her head. "No, that's not quite right. What I mean is: do you think that we can trust what information he gives, given that he's giving it to us out of self-interest?"
"I'm reluctant to let Nurah any freer than she already is." Sosiel says slowly, shifting topics. "Maybe if she continues working to take the Citadel?" He looks to Aron, who seems uncomfortable.
She also knows that without at least a larger portion of the corpse, the oil of life may not bring Terendelev back...
There's a moment of silent surprise at Verene's final announcement, though no one seems to immediately grasp the implications save Aravashnial. "Truly? That is one of the most potent means of reviving the dead." He says, looking to the Knight-Commander.
Irabeth immediately realizes something else. "Then it's good you took it - and Staunton's corpse. Otherwise, someone might've used it on Staunton's corpse."
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"A few minor injuries - you've exhausted a lot of healing, I assume."
Elliot's hair flares blue at this, covered in his own blood as he was. There were more than a few times today where it felt there was more of him on the outside than on the inside. He'd definitely overdone it today, underestimating the enemy and overestimating himself. It wasn't behavior worthy of a champion, to say nothing of a chosen by a goddess. At least, though, he had subdued every humanoid enemy non-lethally, given multiple chances to all of them to surrender and mostly kept Merixia and his sister from harm by taking the front. Or so he told himself.
Trying to keep his fatigue and disappointment over his performance in check, he nods at Azira's, Verene's and Thesius' endorsements of Jhoran and Nurah, but, having nothing to really add to the very detailed report from Thesius and Verene, he remains silent.
Until Verene identifies the True Resurrection elixir. He remembered the words spoken among the group so long ago beneath Kenabres, on what to do if the chance to restore the fallen Guardian was ever in their grasp. "If- if it is truly that powerful... could we use it to return Terendelev to life? We have her scales with us. Surely she could assist the crusade during this siege?" The magus wonders.
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Merixia gives the guards outside an apologetic smile. "Uh, don't worry, I'll take care of that after the debriefing!" She wants to personally ensure that Staunton Vhane's body is reduced to ashes. And possibly dumped in the latrine... no, they've got his brother here. Joran is the next of kin, he should get to decide what to do with Staunton's ashes. With that, she ducks back into the command center.
Irabeth listens to the reports, her expression thoughtful. "Hm. Sounds like you had a tough time... but if you killed that many enemies, the Keep will be that much easier to take if we try to storm it. I'm not exactly eager to do that yet, but I appreciate it nonetheless."
"I've heard of Joran Vhane." Aron says. "Before the Hammers of Heaven were revealed," he nods at Irabeth, "he was supposedly a cleric of Torag."
"I don't think we should trust either of them - at least not yet." Anevia agrees with Azira. "But if Verene's right, well. He'd know a lot that we could use."
"Assuming we could trust him to be truthful." Irabeth says, though she sounds like she agrees. "From your impression of him, would you say that he'd lie to us if he thought we'd want to hear something?" She shakes her head. "No, that's not quite right. What I mean is: do you think that we can trust what information he gives, given that he's giving it to us out of self-interest?"
"I'm reluctant to let Nurah any freer than she already is." Sosiel says slowly, shifting topics. "Maybe if she continues working to take the Citadel?" He looks to Aron, who seems uncomfortable.
Merixia listens to the conversation, tail waving slowly as she thinks. "To me, Joran Vhane looks like someone having a serious crisis of faith. Don't get me wrong, he still knowingly followed his brother to the demons' side and did terrible things in the service of a dark god. I would very much like to know whether he regrets his actions, or simply the consequences of his actions. But there may be hope for him yet." She pauses. "I do believe that he'll tell us the truth about what's going on in the citadel, if only because the demons will kill him- or worse- for his treachery if they get their hands on him. It's in his best interest for us to succeed at routing the demon army and taking Drezen."
There's a moment of silent surprise at Verene's final announcement, though no one seems to immediately grasp the implications save Aravashnial. "Truly? That is one of the most potent means of reviving the dead." He says, looking to the Knight-Commander.
Irabeth immediately realizes something else. "Then it's good you took it - and Staunton's corpse. Otherwise, someone might've used it on Staunton's corpse."
"Yeah, I cast rest eternal on his body right after the fight, but then it occurred to me that someone over there might have enough magical power to break the spell and raise him anyway. If they've got access to resurrection, all they'll need is some blood or his hairbrush or something, but if they only have raise dead, taking the body and burning it will prevent his allies from raising him."
"If- if it is truly that powerful... could we use it to return Terendelev to life? We have her scales with us. Surely she could assist the crusade during this siege?" The magus wonders.
Merixia frowns. "Before we try that, we need to figure out why the first attempt at resurrecting her failed. I only know of four things that can do that." She starts ticking them off on her fingers. "One, rest eternal or a similar spell. But if the cleric is casting a spell as powerful as resurrection, they can probably detect and dispel that sort of thing. Two, the soul of the deceased is happy in the afterlife and doesn't want to return. I doubt that's the case, given how seriously Terendelev took her duty to Kenabres and the Crusade. Three, the soul is bound in some way. If so, we need to find her soul and release it before any attempt at raising her will work. And four... the soul has been destroyed, by a daemon or other soul-eating creature." She may not know a lot of spellcraft, but every cleric needs to know the ins and outs of raising the dead. If nothing else, to avoid wasting a whole lot of diamonds.
Verene remembers something and her shoulders slump slightly. "And five: I believe the oil of life derived from the Philosopher's Stone works even decades or centuries after death, but the descriptions I have read say one uses it by 'anointing the earthly body' of the creature to be resurrected. I am not sure just five scales would be enough. So yes, we must first find out more about why the Crusade's priests could not raise her, and if the oil could, without more of her body — through divinations if necessary. But it is a potent option to have up our sleeves in any case."
She turns her attention to the unwrapped Soulshear, squinting slightly at it as it stubbornly resists her observation. It feels almost slippery, like her 'gaze' is sliding off the glaive and looking at something else over and over. "A misdirection... I already know your nature. There is no point in hiding," she mutters to the weapon, and recasts her own spell with a word and gesture. She hovers a hand over its cruel metal whorls as she sinks deeper into that half-visual, half-mental awareness of magical auras, fighting to keep her focus on Soulshear itself.
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Irabeth nods slowly at Merixia's commentary on Joran's current status. "If we had more paladins of Torag here... do we have any?" She looks to Anevia.
Her wife thinks for a moment. "I don't think we do, no."
"Blast." Irabeth sighs, rubbing her eyes. "Well, I suppose we'll have to do what we can to capitalize on that crisis of faith. Even if he can only be convinced to work with us, he might find a way back into the metaphorical light after a time... I'll try to talk with him, but someone else might have more luck. Sosiel-"
"I'll look into it." The priest says with a gentle smile. "I can't promise anything, but it's possible we can find a way for him to be welcomed back into our ranks - or at least drawn away from those of evil deities."
"We should ask Nurah whether there are any powerful priests in Drezen." Aravashnial suggests, with regards to Staunton's potential resurrection. "Either way, it was good thinking to remove his corpse."
He and Sosiel both nod their agreement with the two women's assessment of the oil of life. "Sixth, it's possible that whatever she did to create the magical qualities of the scales severed them in some meaningful way from her 'body.'" Sosiel suggests, glancing at Aravashnial.
The elf mage shrugs. "I'm not an expert in matters of the soul. Perhaps there were books on this in the Blackwing, but..." He shakes his head mournfully. "I have nothing more to add to those conclusions, other than to agree with them."
She manages to penetrate the magic misguiding her senses, and discovers that Soulshear is quite an unusual item.
Suddenly, she feels a powerful weight on her body - the weapon's own ego is rejecting her, and her strength is waning.
"We'll keep the option in mind. Verene, Merixia, Sosiel, Aravashnial can you perform the divinations?" Irabeth asks.
Sosiel shakes his head slightly. "My attunement with Shelyn is not quite to the degree that Merixia's is with Ragathiel. I don't have access to spells that would help in this regard."
Aravashnial coughs. "While I can offer some help, my own talents are currently not up to par with Verene's, either, and divination spells are not my specialty."
Irabeth looks to the women. "I guess it's up to you." She says with a tired smile.
Verene nods sadly at the mention of the Blackwing. She is mostly concentrating on the glaive now, but does add neutrally, "We did just find a scroll of divination I or someone else could use, but Merixia can likely do better than I, by directly asking for revelation from her god."
Without warning, Verene staggers, and her breath huffs out as though a great weight was unexpectedly dropped on her shoulders. She takes a step back from the traitor's wicked glaive, pulling her clawed hand away and shaking her head. "Well. That is a kind of answer, I suppose. Soulshear is about as powerful as Radiance is now, and can transform itself into other types of weapon that are of similar shape and size. It can also cast misdirection three times per day to hide its evil nature, and summon a babau once per day, with all that that implies. It is quite intelligent, and its ego will always be fighting with its wielder for control over its and possibly some of the wielder's actions, if they are not already in accord."
She considers, and adds dryly, "And I think it doesn't like me.
"We should probably lock it in a box and bury it well underground until we can neutralize it or else decide what to do with it. It cannot safely be left alone, either here on the Material Plane or in an extradimensional space. But I would not like to destroy it, either, before I have even had a chance to research removing a malign intelligence from a weapon."
"I can try divination, but it's designed for short-term predictions. It's worth seeing if Ragathiel is willing to tell me anything, though." Most of the time, the gods prefer their mortal servants to figure things out on their own. "Maybe... Verene, do you think planar inquiry would be of any use here? I think I remember reading that a cleric can call any kind of outsider with that spell, not just those who serve her deity, so I might be able to talk to a psychopomp. They're the experts on souls. It's not a cheap spell, though, you have to have appropriate offerings."
Without warning, Verene staggers, and her breath huffs out as though a great weight was unexpectedly dropped on her shoulders. She takes a step back from the traitor's wicked glaive, pulling her clawed hand away and shaking her head. "Well. That is a kind of answer, I suppose. Soulshear is about as powerful as Radiance is now, and can transform itself into other types of weapon that are of similar shape and size. It can also cast misdirection three times per day to hide its evil nature, and summon a babau once per day, with all that that implies. It is quite intelligent, and its ego will always be fighting with its wielder for control over its and possibly some of the wielder's actions, if they are not already in accord."
She considers, and adds dryly, "And I think it doesn't like me.
"We should probably lock it in a box and bury it well underground until we can neutralize it or else decide what to do with it. It cannot safely be left alone, either here on the Material Plane or in an extradimensional space. But I would not like to destroy it, either, before I have even had a chance to research removing a malign intelligence from a weapon."
Merixia eyes the glaive mistrustfully. "I don't know, it sounds like it might be more trouble than it's worth. If it were up to me, I'd just take a hammer to the damned thing. A hammer with wrathful weapon on it."
”I have to agree with Merixia,” Azira says rather sternly. “I can think of no possible benefit that would outweigh the danger of keeping around a weapon that will seek to bend people’s hearts to evil and can summon a demon into the camp. We should destroy it, immediately.”
"I can try divination, but it's designed for short-term predictions. It's worth seeing if Ragathiel is willing to tell me anything, though." Most of the time, the gods prefer their mortal servants to figure things out on their own. "Maybe... Verene, do you think planar inquiry would be of any use here? I think I remember reading that a cleric can call any kind of outsider with that spell, not just those who serve her deity, so I might be able to talk to a psychopomp. They're the experts on souls. It's not a cheap spell, though, you have to have appropriate offerings."
"I thought the outsider that answers the call of a planar inquiry would always be one that matched you philosophically or served your deity directly, but maybe not. It could work for you, depending on what kind of being Ragathiel chose to send you and how knowledgeable it is. But I cannot currently cast it, and would not be able to until I have the time and resources to learn more spells. By that point, contacting an outsider by sending my own consciousness outward might be a better choice for me."
Merixia eyes the glaive mistrustfully. "I don't know, it sounds like it might be more trouble than it's worth. If it were up to me, I'd just take a hammer to the damned thing. A hammer with wrathful weapon on it."
”I have to agree with Merixia,” Azira says rather sternly. “I can think of no possible benefit that would outweigh the danger of keeping around a weapon that will seek to bend people’s hearts to evil and can summon a demon into the camp. We should destroy it, immediately.”
"It has already summoned the one babau it can for today, if you recall, and it cannot bend anyone or summon anything if it is in a box underground," Verene points out patiently. "Possibly not if it is in a box at all. Unless you doubt that we will succeed in taking the keep, there is absolutely no reason to destroy it yet."
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Thesius listens to the insights and revelations of the group as they continue onward.
Once Verene has had the chance to look over the journal, he takes it up and casts detect magic. Upon allowing his spell to sit upon the book for a little over a quarter of a minute to get any information he can, he does a final inspection for possible traps.
Finally he presents it to the group with his findings. "We also came across this in Staunton's belongings. We're hoping to glean further insight from it."
Upon hearing the discussion in regard to Soulshear, he offers his input. "I agree with Verene. We should seal the item for now. There may be further use for it in the future and it could provide insights into how we might deal with such weapons in the future as well. So for now, I suggest we rewrap it, secure the wrapping, place it in a box, seal the box, and throw it into one of our extradimensional spaces. Without a way to know where it's summoning, it's unlikely to be able to do so. And placing it on another plane will make it harder for others to find."
If given the chance, he will start perusing the journal if no danger presents itself from their investigations of it.
Elliot stands by in the back, nodding along with the coversation. His exhaustion was wearing on him, having used up both all of his magic and wardstone power in the span of less than ten minutes. He felt like he could lie down in his tent and sleep for days straight. "I agree we should hide the glaive if we can't destroy it immediately. And... while I can't deny really wanting to rest, I am curious as to what information Vhane had written down in his journal." The magus looks at Thesius expectantly, wondering what the bard would find.
"Inside a case in extradimensional storage is probably safe and certainly more convenient," Verene agrees. "I don't think it should be able to summon a babau while inside a box at all. But even in the very worst case scenario, if it summons the babau to the inside of the extradimensional container and destroys it, then Soulshear along with all other contents of the bag would be lost forever in the void between planes. It probably does not want that, any more than we do."
With the fate of Soulshear decided, for now, she turns to peering over Thesius's shoulder at Staunton's small book.
"Well... if you're sure it will be safe. You're the expert, Verene." Ooh, are they reading the book now? Excellent! Merixia looks over Thesius' other shoulder at Staunton's secret diary. Or whatever he was writing in there.
Azira's face--as is so often the case--betrays her ineffective attempt at masking her skepticism about keeping the evil weapon. She manages to hold her tongue, though.
"With some luck, he wrote down information on the exact demonic and cultist forces in the region. Or the actual location of the Sword and how it is defended," Elliot muses as Thesius continues studying Staunton's Journal.
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Irabeth looks troubled at the conversation about Soulshear, her brows furrowed. "I don't like the idea of leaving it undamaged, but..." She looks to Aravashnial.
The elf wizard nods. "I believe that Verene is correct - I don't think it could do much harm if we followed her suggestions in how to secure it. I am not, however, certain that we need not destroy it." He shrugs. "But I see no reason why we shouldn't allow Verene to study it when she's able. I would be willing to help, for that matter."
Irabeth sighs, then nods. "Well, if our two magical experts say that they have it under control, I'm willing to - provisionally - let it happen. However, if anyone gets hurt because of it, I'll break it apart myself, is that clear?"
Flipping through the book - which is neither magical nor trapped - reveals that it is, in fact, Staunton's journal. Although much will probably be of interest for later analyses, about five minutes of browsing allows the heroes to find several sections of note. It is mostly written in Taldane, surprisingly, but some sections are written in Dwarven.
This, then, he writes, will be his legacy - without children or reliable allies, this is how Staunton wished to be remembered.
Staunton considered the leaders of Drezen cowards - and, from later notes, still does - who hid away their banner to spare their own lives, and so he stole the banner, bringing it out to Jerribeth. At that point, she revealed her true form, and made Staunton watch as Aponivicius sacked the city and claimed it as her own. He goes into visceral detail of the dead and desecrated of Drezen - the likely source of the ghouls.
Finally, after the bloodshed had been completed, Staunton was offered a choice - death or servitude to Aponivicius. He writes with simple, blunt words that he chose the latter. There's neither pride nor resignation in the writing, but it's impossible to tell whether that was the case at the time.
Staunton was the first to volunteer to take one of the elixirs, and he describes how it seemingly unlocked some tremendous power within him - there's a certain level of eerie familiarity to how he writes of it... the heroes experienced something similar when the wardstone exploded.
Three of the other subjects of the elixir - a dragon and two xacarba servants - died horrific deaths, twisting and mutating into vile monstrosities before boiling from the inside out. Other than Vhane, only the chimera Soltengrebbe survived.
After this triumphant success (in the eyes of Aponavicius), the demon commander set Eustoryiax to guard the Sword of Valor in a chamber deep beneath the citadel, where he remains... at least when the entry was written.
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"But I see no reason why we shouldn't allow Verene to study it when she's able. I would be willing to help, for that matter."
"I'm sure you would be, master," The magus tiredly thinks, glancing between him and his sister. "Surely I am not imagining things... right?"
Of course, that was the exact moment he started hearing voices in his head.
"I..." It trails off for a few moments. "I would like to spare it. There's something... I don't know. Forgive me."
"You're more attracted to Soulshear than Radiance...? Well, I guess we all have our tastes. Kind of problematic to fall for an evil artefact during a siege just after we killed its master and it being our prisoner now, but hey. I can see the thrill. Don't worry, I'll do this subtly." Elliot thinks back to his sword, then speaks up. "Actually, Eclipse wishes to spare Soulshear for... reasons. It can't fully explain why, except that there is something about it." He shrugs. "Best case scenario is probably that it can be cleansed somehow. Or maybe it is sentient too and guidable back to the light. Hmm... maybe Soulshear was corrupted in that forge in the journal here..." he finishes, pointing to the entry as it comes up.
"There. Smooth as butter. Plausible deniability - you're welcome, my friend."
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The elf wizard nods. "I believe that Verene is correct - I don't think it could do much harm if we followed her suggestions in how to secure it. I am not, however, certain that we need not destroy it." He shrugs. "But I see no reason why we shouldn't allow Verene to study it when she's able. I would be willing to help, for that matter."
Irabeth sighs, then nods. "Well, if our two magical experts say that they have it under control, I'm willing to - provisionally - let it happen. However, if anyone gets hurt because of it, I'll break it apart myself, is that clear?"
"Perfectly sensible." Verene nods in a businesslike fashion. "And thank you for the offer, Master Aravashnial. Between us, and with help from Thesius and Elliot — and possibly his sword?—" she gives the black scimitar a long dubious look— "I am confident we can at least determine with certainty whether the glaive can be made safe, or if it must be destroyed."
When they get to the passages of the journal that are in Dwarven, Verene performs a quick translation in her head and reads each line out loud in Taldane for the benefit of those present who do not speak it.
"This mention of a forge that can corrupt sacred items makes me especially hopeful that the process could be done in reverse, for both these tainted items and Soulshear. And as we thought, Eustoyriax guards the Sword of Valor beneath the citadel. It is fortunate indeed that Aponavicius was proud and arrogant enough not to attempt corrupting it. Although I doubt they could have done so, who knows what would have happened instead.
"The passage about the elixir of powdered Nahyndrian crystal is most worrisome. Staunton we caught unawares, and had little trouble dispatching. But the reverse was true for that monstrous chimera. It was on us before we could blink. It was impossibly fast and very dangerous; it came very close to killing Merixia. If they can manufacture this elixir in real quantity, then even with a success rate of only two in five for the transformation, the Abyss could swiftly field an unstoppable army."
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Thesius focuses upon the book, only briefly pausing as Verene translates the dwarven passages and for the exchange between Elliot and Verene.
Upon completing their first cursory review of the journal, he listens to Verene's thoughts before adding his own.
"Indeed, it would seem likely the reverse would be possible in regard to redeeming these tainted items. Fortune was with us," his hand absently going to his holy symbol as he speaks, "that they chose to not try to corrupt the Sword of Valor. They certainly could have done far worse."
"Thankfully we have seemed to have dispatched any that successfully made the transformation brought on by these elixirs. I worry what threat a dragon may have posed after such a change. If given the chance, it may be worth trying to investigate these crystals and how we might counteract them."
After putting some additional thought into their findings, he continues on, "It would seem we still may have a handful of powerful enemies still lurking within the walls and depths of the keep. We should decide on our next focus. Should we clear the top level or delve into it's depths to try and reclaim the Sword of Valor as quickly as possible?"
Having given his thoughts, he turns his attention back to the book to see what else he may find.
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Aravashnial nods gravely at Verene, glancing at Righteous Eclipse. "We can hope that it might enlighten us, indeed."
Irabeth glances at Sosiel, who nods. "If you'd asked me yesterday whether the demons could corrupt something like the Sword of Valor, I would've said absolutely not. I recognize some of the other names on that list, though, and I'd've said the same of them."
The Knight-Commander sighs. "Understood." She looks back to Verene and Thesius. "I agree. We need to learn more about these crystals and the elixirs, and, if possible, stop their production entirely. But that's a strategic concern for the Queen and her generals, and not something we can immediately deal with. Still, keep an eye out for any signs of more information. In the meantime... is it possible for any of you to send word to any of the high command? If, Iomedaae forbid, we fail here, this information needs to get to them."
diary talks ofhow he hired an annis hag cultist of Sifkesh to track her down as well, and that if this final attempt fails, he intends to seek out Arueshalae himself once "this matter with the so-called heroes of Kenabres is settled."
"The Blackfire Adepts?!" Aravashnial's lips twist into a snarl, and his voice is an uncharacteristically venomous growl. "If one of their number is involved in the Templars, it is no wonder the Blackwing was burned down." Anevia looks at him, startled at his raw fury, and the elf takes a calming breath. "The Blackfire Adepts are the greatest enemies of my order. They are a group of... exploiters of planar energy, often aligned with the Abyss. They revel in wounds between the planes, and in causing more. Not surprisingly, there are quite a few of them in the Worldwound."
Supposedly, her greatest joy is to cause a good, devout person to slowly grow corrupted into apostasy, only for the realization to strike the now-apostate and prompt them to commit suicide. Her cults are typically disguised - a single true worshipper leading a number of oblivious thralls.