" 'Ware, friends." Telvir points at the intruders and Smoke's hackles rise.
"What are those followers of the Gray Lady doing here? Intruders!"
At Telvir's cry, the four Pharasmins cast back their cloaks and raise their religious symbols. Their leader, a woman, shouts, "In the name of the Lady of Graves, we will cleanse this place of the wicked and impure!"
"I'd imagine you would like to see our entire country burn into ash. Is there a particular reason why this place is on your top list?" the maid asks like she is a having a simple conversation, as she delays long enough to see where Telvir's hound or their warrior is going. Then she joins to concentrate her attack at well.
Ceceka looks like he can hardly believe that anyone would be so foolish as to strike at Urgathoa, here, in Geb. It takes him a second to recover and then, with urgency, he moves forward to meet the Pharasmins.
"Meddlers! You must be anxious to meet your Lady."
Telvir has no love of Pharasmins, and there are plenty of spirits around, so he unleashes some unholy power, then gestures for Smoke to attack.
for
"Really?" Caraid asks with a sigh. He retreats to the wall and settles in to watch the fight. Call him sentimental but he doesn't actually like fighting his fellow Quick.
Two of the priests stand firm in the face of Telvir's summoned poltergeist, but the other two blanch in fear. Aily and Ceceka quickly flank one of the frightened Pharasmins, taking him down with a pair of critical hits!
The other priests rally as their leader shouts again, raising her holy symbol. The other two likewise raise their holy symbols, sending positive energy blasting all around them to ravage the undead supplicants of Urgathoa!
The ghoulish priestess hisses in pain as her skin burns. She shouts for the congregation to find cover!
Pain tears through the half vampire as she flesh chars almost to the bone. She manages another step toward the next priest before she crumbles to the ground.
HP 86/97
AC 26 (27 with shield raised)
Fort +13, Ref +11, Will +12; poison resistance 3
Hero points: 3
Focus Points: 1/1; Charm []; Illusory Disguise []
Effects:
"Fight!" Mithralline yells toward Caraid as the coward retreats from the Pharasmins.
She charges toward the Pharasmin leader, wings a blur, planning to dine on the cleric's blood.
[ b]Trigger[/b]: An enemy within 15 feet damages you.You put an impertinent foe who dared harm you in their proper place. You command your enemy to kneel before you in obedience. If they dare to refuse, they must pay the price in pain and anguish. The foe must choose one of the following options.
* The enemy kneels, dropping prone as a free action.
* The enemy refuses, and you deal 2d6 persistent mental damage to it. This damage increases to 3d6 at 9th level, 4d6 at 12th level, 5d6 at 16th level, and 6d6 at 19th level.
In addition, your Strikes against the triggering creature deal 1 extra damage until the end of your next turn. You choose whether the damage type is evil or negative each time you use this reaction. This extra damage increases to 2 at 9th level and 3 at 16th level.
Telvir concentrates on his spell, and the poltergeist batters the clerics.
Telvir exerts his will on the leader, hoping to slow them and make an easy target.
Smoke continues trying to snack on Pharasmins.
for
Caraid scowls, ignores the Annoyance and does what he actually cares about - keeping Aily safe.
Aily gasps as the negative energy knits her back together. Her eyes shoot open to see... Feet. Pharasmian Feet. The angry maid slams her knife into the nearest on, then rips upward through his leg. When the unfortunate owner of that foot folds in two to scream, she slams that knife up through the roof of his mouth, ending that particular noise.
Then she stands up.
Whatever the Pharasmins just did only managed to make Ceceka's skin tingle. Unknown to him, the shock of positive energy undoes some of the scars on his back, and brings solace to overworked joints and traumatized soft tissue, filling Ceceka with a newfound source of energy that shows itself in an anger-fueled craving to chop these bastards to bits!
Mithralline struggles to grab a hold of the Pharasmin leader. Caraid uses his magic to get Aily back on her feet. Ceceka scores a critical hit, terribly wounding one of the priests. Telvir's poltergeist batters them all with force, then Snow takes down the priest Ceceka struck with his powerful jaws! The lead priestess resists Telvir's slow spell, only becoming temporarily sluggish. Aily slices open the last underling's hamstrings, dropping the priest even as she rises.
The Pharasmins have been decimated, their leader the only one still standing. "Goddess preserve us," she breathes. Her eyes wide, she turns to flee, racing out of the shrine, though Telvir's spell slows her down!
Tevlir sends Smoke to cut of the Pharasmin's escape, and the dog circles to at least provide a flank for any attackers that catch up. Meanwhile, Telvir draws on his mental resources to send an extra-potent blast of debris at the fleeing attacker.
for
HP 86/97
AC 26 (27 with shield raised)
Fort +13, Ref +11, Will +12; poison resistance 3
Hero points: 3
Focus Points: 1/1; Charm []; Illusory Disguise []
Effects:
"Don't think you can get away so easily!" Mithralline yells, flying after the woman and again trying to sink her fangs into the priest to restrain her.
Ceceka chases after the leader but when he sees just what it means to Mithralline to take care of this foe, the warrior snaps out of his blind rage and simply watches.
This should be fun.
Once the enemy started to run, the maid stopped her slaughter. The memory of eclipsing pain is still too fresh. Her hand without her bloody knife cradles her belly for an unknown reason, before looking at Caraid, to whom she mouths the words 'Thank You'
Telvir scores a critical hit with his projectile, leaving the priestess badly wounded. Mithralline catches up to her and grabs a hold, sinking her fangs into the Pharasmin's neck! The badly wounded woman tries her best to fight back, but her strength quickly ebbs as the tiny vampire drains her blood, and soon enough, she falls to the floor and lies still.
The Urgathoan clergy and supplicants emerge from their hiding spots, thanking you for intervening. "Thank you, champion," the ghoul says as she bows to Mithralline. "There will always be radical extremists like those trying to disrupt our way of life. We are in your debt for stopping them before they could do any further harm."
Caraid flashes Aily a smile but the expression vanishes almost immediately as the Urgathoans re-emerge. His distaste for them is nearly palpable.
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Aily's eyes catalog the reaction as always, but then her mind is distracted by the priest's fawning over her mistress and the sudden fear that lady Cort will demand a statue of herself erected in compensation of her great deeds. "She just Ate, that's all' the maid thinks with a frown from her lips.
Ceceka is aware the Urgathoans are addressing Mithralline, but he can't help himself when the ghoul prostrates itself before the tyrant and utters certain magical words. "Debt, you say ... ?"
"I believe you were about to tell us where to acquire shadow ash." Telvir examines the bodies and possessions of the invaders and raises an eyebrow at the now-subserviently ghoul.
"Ah, yes," the ghoul says as she straightens her robe. Several of the lesser priests collect the bodies of the Pharasmins and carry them off, perhaps planning to include them as part of the upcoming feast.
"It is interesting that you have come seeking shadow ash, as we recently received another request for the substance. A professor from the Twilight Castrum, Nathnelma, approached us asking for the ash in exceptionally large quantities. She was even willing to pay the high prices such an order would cost, provided the entire matter was kept quiet from the Export Guild. I informed her that no one in the shrine could create the ash on the scale she requires. Indeed, nobody here can actually create it all! Shadow ash is a rare alchemical ingredient that makes the victim of a poisoning easier to raise as undead and to control once reanimated. Its creation takes significantly more divine power than any of us are able to muster.
"I do not know why Nathnelma wants the ash, nor who she's trying to poison, but this much shadow ash could turn an entire city into the living dead. Wouldn’t that be glorious? Alas, we were unable to help her, and likewise, we are unable to help you if you seek the same thing."
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"Well, I'm sure the Export Guild will be eager to hear about this." Telvir purses his lips. "Was the professor foolish enough to put her request in writing?"
Raising a whole city as undead. No way to get a quality product. Reanimation takes a personal touch!
"No, but I did respond to the request in writing," the priestess says. "It's possible she still has the correspondence. Maybe in her office or her domicile?"
Mithralline licks her lips, her eyes bright after a fine meal. She's almost grateful the idiot woman ran. Nothing beats eating after working up an appetite. She grins knowing the fool Pharasmin will likely be raised as the undead she hated in life. A fitting fate for someone who would dare to attack her! If she didn't already have to deal with Aggravation, she might consider claiming the woman as a minion, but one such thrall to keep track of is more than she really has energy for.
She brings her attention back to the cleric. "You are most welcome, of course. If you do not have the ash, we shall do without. Has this Nathnelma made any other requests of you?"
The ghoul shakes her head. "No. That is all that Nathnelma requested."
After finishing up at the Palllidium, you head for Nathnelma's townhouse. The two-story brick townhouse is one of several such homes that fill this quiet neighborhood not far from the Twilight Castrum. Oak trees draped with moss shade the grassy lawn and a few old gravestones. The front door is flanked by large windows and more windows line the second floor. Mysterious green lights flicker from an upper window, behind gray curtains.
Both the front and back door are locked, and the windows are securely shuttered. You remember that the Blood Lords told you the hag keeps wraiths bound into the building's walls as a security measure.
Ceceka eyes the house and wonders how nice it must be to live in one of these places. Shame the place is filled with wraiths, there's that. "Do we have magic to deal with the wraiths? I've heard stories about such creatures ..."
Wraiths are malevolent undead who drain life and shun light. Their shadowy, incorporeal forms are dotted with burning eyes that reffect their hatred for the living, and shadowy claws are weapon enough to steal the vitality from their enemies.
Wraiths resist all damage except force, ghost touch, or positive. However, their attacks only harm living creatures or those without negative energy affinity. Furthermore, wraiths are virtually powerless in direct sunlight.
Seeing the doubt in her followers' eyes, Mithralline grits her fangs. "Let us go get some equipment to help you all. Unless you'd like me to turn you now?"
She eyes their throats.
"Why Lady Cort, I didn't want to deprive you of the honour of capturing this witch by yourself." Caraid replies, keeping a remarkably straight face. "Unless you're seeing that you need us?"
Ceceka takes a step forward when Mithralline threatens him. The warrior, though not the tallest, still towers over the sprite, and it is at that moment he realizes she must've been joking. There's no way she could take him on one-on-one! "Ha! Funny! Ok, let us spend some gold."
Aily looks at the warrior, his step approaching Cort. She knew the day would come, where one or more of them would decide to beat, maim, kill, grind bones into dust, rip those wings off Slowly...
Aily drug her mind from happy thoughts, and back to the problem. She would not sacrifice her plans for those happy thoughts, and When it was going to happen, SHE would be the one doing it.
Her hand, always demurely behind her back anyway, grasped the hilt of her dagger, to draw and unfortunately attempt to slam it into the warrior's throat, but then he laughed.
Which surprised the s++& out of her.
But made her smile. In relief.
Caraid, always alert to Aily, watches the muscles in her slender arm contract. There's a blade behind her back (because of course there is) and he knows exactly how well she can use it.
Will she side with the Annoyance? He wonders. Probably, for now. Images run through his mind - if the Annoyance is foolish enough to start something then Ceceka would retaliate, and he has to stop Aily going after the warrior. Hopefully she'd at least hesitate before trying to stab him.
So it would probably come down to Telvir. The oracle concludes. He has no love for the Annoyance at least. Neutral? Probably.
Then Ceceka laughs, Aily relaxes and Caraid lets the plans fade from his mind. For now at least.
"A wise precaution. I've always preferred working with corporeal remains. It's messier, but they are much more predictable."
Mithalline approaches the door. "I see no reason to slink in like some pathetic fairy," she says, gesturing for her handmaiden to do the honors.
Aily recognizes the desire of her mistress, so she approaches the door and works open the lock
Ceceka tightens his grip on his weapon, the intensity of it causing his leather gloves to croak. "Come on, we don't have all day."
As soon as Aily begins attempting to pick the lock on the door, the three wraiths bound within the townhome's walls emerge! They let out ghostly wails as they move to attack!
Bent over the lock as she was, the maid didn't notice the wraiths until it was almost too late. With a whirl, she abandons her picks to the keyhole, drawing her dagger with lightning grace. Her red eyes flash as she takes in the battlefield, then moves to the nearest engaged by thier warrior.
Ceceka loses himself when the wraiths jump them. Part of him knows that this fight might very well not go their way, and he isn't exactly ready yet to shed his mortal coil. If Mithralline is anything to go by, the sweetness of life is preferable over the bitterness of death. For now.
Telvir pulls out one of the scrolls he purchased and reads it, summoning a ghostly scythe to reap the wraiths.
for
HP 97/97
AC 26 (27 with shield raised)
Fort +13, Ref +11, Will +12; poison resistance 3
Hero points: 3
Focus Points: 1/1; Charm []; Illusory Disguise []
Effects:
"No! They are mine!" Mithralline snarls as the wraiths attack. She flies up to one with shield raised, and strikes with her scythe.
[/ooc]
Ceceka enters a rage and slices at the nearest wraith, scoring a critical hit! Telvir strikes it with a spiritual weapon, then Mithralline finishes it off with a sweep of her scythe. As it discorporates, Aily stabs a second wraith, but finds no vitals to sneak attack.
The two remaining wraiths step to either side of Ceceka to flank him, reaching out with their ghostly hands.
HP 97/97
AC 26 (27 with shield raised)
Fort +13, Ref +11, Will +12; poison resistance 3
Hero points: 3
Focus Points: 1/1; Charm []; Illusory Disguise []
Effects:
"Stupid creatures," Mithralline snarls, moving to attack the one Acherella is flailing at. "You couldn't hit me if you tried," she taunts, hoping to draw their attacks to herself.
Telvir slashes twice with the scythe and brings up a shield of force, lest the wraiths turn their attention his way.
"Begone, spirits."
for
for
Caraid joins the spiritual weapon crowd and stays well away from the wraiths.
Ceceka flails about in anger, but with the wraiths coming up close, the fighter struggles to land a telling blow.