Ceceka starts choking on his own spittle as the mad hag's spell turns the very air he breathes into a thick deadly mist.
Aily's savage sawing and hacking tears apart the hand to get to Cadaid, catching him as he slumps to the floor. Panic erupts again, but he is breathing,
The maid is just about to lay him back down, join the battle again, but then the cloud bellows out around them, burning her as she breathes it in.
With obvious effort, both physically and mentally, Aily abandons the fight momentarily to carry the paralyzed man out of the range of the cloud.
Telvir stops himself just as he is about to inhale a lungful of the deadly poison, but he still gets a whiff of the caustic mix.
Stumbling out of the cloud with the tatters of his dignity, he continues to tear at the enemies. Meanwhile, Smoke out of the cloud.
and
HP 90/97 +?? temp HP
AC 26 (28 with shield raised)
Fort +13, Ref +11, Will +12; poison resistance 3
Hero points: 2
Focus Points: 1/1; Charm []; Illusory Disguise []
Effects:
Mithralline maintains her hold on the teaching assistant and this time sinks her fangs deep into his neck, drinking deeply of his blood. She grins as he begins to pale and bites again.
Trigger: 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.
Aily drags Caraid out of the cloudkill area and rouses him to consciousness. The oracle begins channeling inner radiance again. Telvir's amped spell tears at your opponents, completely ripping apart the summoned skeleton attacking Mithralline.
Meanwhile, the skeleton fighting Ceceka fends off his attacks. Mithralline drains blood from the teaching assistant she has grappled, but is unable to hit with her attack.
The skeleton fails to hit Ceceka and the teaching assistants both miss Mithralline.
The cloudkill rolls through the door of the room, though Ceceka is still in its area.
Nathnelma rolls her eyes at her assistants' plight and moves in to help, clawing at Mithralline. She scores two critical hits! The vampire retorts with a harsh command.
Telvir's head is splitting, distracting him from his spellcasting.
He sics Smoke on the hag and sends a blast of fire at one of the graduate assistants.
for
Unfortunately, he's unable to concentrate on his spell!
HP 30/97
AC 26 (28 with shield raised)
Fort +13, Ref +11, Will +12; poison resistance 3
Hero points: 2
Focus Points: 0/1; Charm []; Illusory Disguise []
Effects:
Mithralline screeches in rage and lays a hand on herself, healing most of her own wounds . She glares balefully at the hag, then proceeds to continue eviscerating her help first. The poor, bleeding, slightly delicious grad assistant gets a scythe to the neck, and then another vicious bite.
She glances back, wondering where her minions are and if they've been eviscerated. They'd better hope they have considering how little they're helping her!
Trigger: 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.
Finally able to fire off his spell Caraid sends a line of fire and force searing across the room and into Nathnelma - anyone who gets in the way is simply an unfortunate side-effect.
He's glowing, and putting out a tangible amount of force and pressure, so much so that being nearby is actually painful.
The roiling vapors find their way to Ceceka's lungs and ravage his respiratory system. He froths bubbly blood and looks completely lost - what fight remains in him, it's not much.
with the toxic cloud still present, it would tactically unwise to run into melee. That is the reason she stays by this man's side, not a unwelcome protective instinct she doesn't understand.
With reasonable deduction, she finds the shape the Lady Cort is fighting, then flings her dagger at the enemy. A split second later the dagger reappears in her hand, only for it to be sent flying again.
Ceceka's heavy blow destroys the skeleton. As he falls back, Caraid unleashes his blinding radiance at one of the assistants and at Nathnelma. Nathnelma reacts by yanking the other assistant in front of her, causing him to take the blast instead of her!
With both men badly wounded after the blast, Smoke and Mithralline are able to quickly take them down. Now, only Nathnelma stands before you. Aily's dagger pierces the cloud of fog to stab the hag once before returning to her hand.
Shrieking with anger, Nathnelma rips at Mithralline again, scoring a critical hit!
The cloudkill floats out of the doorway and into the hall, drifting away from Aily, Caraid, and Ceceka.
Against his better judgment, the enraged Ceceka jumps back into the fray.
Still suffering psychic backlash, Telvir orders Smoke to attack and tries to cast another spell.
for
for
Caraid sighs and follows Ceceka into battle. The man is more useful alive than as an undead minion.
With the smoke gone, and the person she is TRYING to protect insisting on running into a battle AGAIN, Aily darts back into the fray.
HP 30/97
AC 26 (28 with shield raised)
Fort +13, Ref +11, Will +12; poison resistance 3
Hero points: 2
Focus Points: 0/1; Charm []; Illusory Disguise []
Effects: undying 2
Mithralline turns just in time to take the blow, and crumples to the ground.
Ceceka and Smoke fail to hit Nathnelma, but Aily lands a good hit, and Telvir's magic missiles make an impact.
The hag turns on Aily, slashing with her claws!
Claws rip through her flesh, leaving the maid barely standing. Her dagger slices and stabs but with little effect.
Ceceka continues to wail away at the hag.
Smoke continues to attack the hag, and Telvir strains to call forth more undead, hoping to at least slow her down.
One of the graduate assistants stands as a ghast, and tries to take a bite of the professor.
for
for plus ghoul fever and paralysis (DC 16)
Caraid glances to his side and sees Mithralline on the floor, surrounded by ichor, near broken. She's near true death, that's obvious and suddenly a perfect plan forms in his mind.
He retreats from the combat, stepping over Mithralline's prone form and lining up his spell - Mithralline, Nathnelma and the ghoul. He glows once more and doesn't hold the spell this time, it's enough as it is.
Another line of force and fire bursts from him, searing across the floor and into Nathnelma. And through Mithralline.
Nathnelma evades Caraid’s blast. Ally and Ceceka land good hits, and the grave hag begins to slow down. Shrieking with fury, she claws Aily, dropping the dhampir. She then steps up to Ceceka and attacks, but he avoids her claws.
Knowing that there's no room for failure, Ceceka strikes at the hag and attempts to push her away with a combination of deadly attacks. Every second he purchases for his companions with his sacrifice is one that might turn the tide.
Ceceka misses with his first attack, but the second one hits and he brutally shoves Nathnelma away. She stumbles and falls to her knees, barely clinging to consciousness. ”Alright! You win. I will surrender,” she grumbles.
Caraid places a hand on Ceceka's back while people are focusing on the witch and does his best for the warrior, before turning his attention to Aily.
"You'll be coming with us then." He tells Nathnelma. "There are Blood Lords who want to ask you some questions."
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
Mithralline dies, for a second time, almost as ignominiously as the first, her tiny body crumpled on the ground.
Smoke meanders over and nudges Mithralline's remains with his nose, giving a slight whine.
"Worry not, boy. She's fulfilled her purpose in capturing the hag." Telvir does gather the sharp-toothed sprite to take back to their manor and dispose of properly.
While Caraid deals with the new prisoner, Telvir pokes around the hag's home.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
The dark haired dhampir opens her red eyes, a slight panic mixed in with shearing pain. The panic clears when she sees her healer, but not the pain.
The woman rises, trying to clean her dress up, sliding her dagger back in place, her eyes finally seeing the crumpled unmoving form of her mistress.
Shoulders tense, nearly to the point of cracking. "Is she gone?" the cold fury in her voice could kill everyone in the room.
"It seems so." Caraid says. He doesn't bother offering false words of sympathy - he respects Aily too much for that. He also, however, doesn't gloat about it.
"That's all I have left." He says, after doing what he can to ease Aily's remaining wounds.
Ritual books on a shelf contain create undead (mohrg, mummy, wraith) and portrait of spite. Another book holds the formula for a ghastly cauldron. One item decorating the shelves is a jade serpent wondrous figurine. A desk drawer holds a +1 striking dagger and two uses of dust of disappearance.
Nathnelma's bedchamber has a massive four-poster bed draped with black velvet and covered in a luxurious velvet spread and black silk sheets. A large ironbound trunk rests at the foot of the bed. The trunk contains scrolls of mirror’s misfortune and replicate, as well as two moderate healing potions and a pouch with 200 gp. The bedclothes are particularly nice and new; they fetch 600 gp in total if sold, but they weigh 5 Bulk.
When you interrogate Nathnelma, the grave hag confesses her efforts to create a poison that would not only slay its victims but make them easily raised as undead who would obey the poison’s creator. Unfortunately, she never acquired shadow ash, the final ingredient needed to bring this plan to fruition. Iron Taviah and Sahni made their ingredients skillfully but far too slowly; Decrosia’s mass-produced toxin components weren’t usually worth the effort to ship them, but some of these ingredients were passed along regardless.
Although the Graveclaw was making the specialty poison in huge batches at someone else’s command, Nathnelma isn’t certain who that patron is. She used drop points to deliver the components.
All that's left now to wrap up this business is to decide what you are going to do with Nathnelma...
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Aily Yor thinks as the others searches and plans, a silent ghost swaying softly behind them. She has failed again, her mind tells her, refusing to think on how many times her 'projects' have met their untimely end. At least this time she hasn't had to do the deed herself.
Which is infuriating, since if this one was going to fail, at least she could have had the satisfaction of stabbing her face over and over until there was nothing left.
Closing her eyes, she starts going over her tasks.
Starting again, going back to her father and choosing another of his cast offs... the thought made her weary to her bones and back. Before that could even start, she had to erase her presence here. She was too damaged at the moment to take them on as a group. Once they get back to the mansion was best, where she was in charge of their meals, were each lock and secret was as familiar as her own body. The wizard would need to be first, the fighter, and... she pauses in her planning, deciding to jump past that murder at the moment.
After her companions were finished, she could kill the staff and burn the entire place to ash. There were a few informants, contacts, the deliver men, the bartender at the pub she frequented...
So much work to do...
Until then...
Aily follows.
After some debate, you decide to turn Nathnelma over to Blood Lord Kyril. The wight regards the captured hag dispassionately, then turns to you. ”I appreciate you bringing her to me. Now we will get to the bottom of the scam she was running. The Export Guild is grateful for your assistance.”
Of course, Blood Lord Zthni will no doubt be miffed that he will be unable to exact the revenge he had in mind for Nathnelma. Regardless, Blood Lord Berline is very happy with your thorough investigation! With the Graveclaw’s destruction, you can return to your manor in Graydirge for some well-deserved rest.
"Don't go." Caraid says, propping himself up and reaching out to take Aily's pale hand as she sits with her back to him on the edge of the bed. "I know the look on your face - you planning to leave. Don't. Please."
He waits for a response but his dhampir lover might as well have been carved from stone and deep in his heart Caraid doesn't want that. He's flitted through life like a butterfly, dazzling and leaving no impression but now... now he has something, someone he actually cares about. Even more than revenge.
"My mother killed my father when I was twelve." He says, offering her a story - a story he's never told anyone else. "We lived together, my father and I, and I never knew her. But one day he told me to hide in the cellar and to not come out, no matter what. So I didn't. But I heard them - he told her I'd died and she... I don't know what she did but when I came out he was gone. Without a trace. She was a hag, I know that much. A night hag and I've been living with that ever since. I ran, I sold his shop and ran, as far as I could to get away from her. And I've been running ever since. Never stopping, never putting down roots. Think about it Aily, do I belong in Geb? In a land filled with the dead? It's the last place people would look for me, and that's exactly how I want it. Because I was young and I was scared. Now I'm older and... I'm still afraid. Angry now, but afraid too. I've run and run and I know the look on your face because you're going to run to. I'd like you to stay."
He takes a deep breath and then adds the hardest three words he's spoken in years. "Stay with me."
Poison, Aily had decided. It was risky, but she wouldn't have to see him die. This was never something she worried about before. She was weak. All Because Of Him.
She tenses at the request. She was here to say good bye, before having to kill him. One last pull into the light.
Her face turns to him as she tells his story, her head cocks to the side, her eyes taking in his every facial expression. She considers this, she thinks, contemplates, plans...
Then tells him a story "Three times I have tried this. Waited until my father discarded the most useless of them, the worst of his 'real' children, thrown into the trash. Then I raised them up, forced them to be more, to prove to him..." she stops and shakes her head. "As distressingly obtuse, unfathomably irritating, and down right horrible that Mithralline was, that gnat made it much farther toward my goal than the other two." she sighed. "And now I have to start again."
Looking at him, with those red eyes she counters with "I can't do that from here."
After a moment, a long moment, she adds "And you cannot come with me... or he'd eat you." a sigh, remembering the positive healing "I saw, I know, I don't care."
"Then why go back?" Caraid asks, shifting up to sit properly, careless of the sheet which pools more-or-less in his lap. "What hold does he have over you? Aily, tell me, truly, what can he give you that you cannot have here? What can he offer that you cannot take for yourself? My mother calls to me when I sleep - every night, a siren song of magic - that's what it is to be a changeling. I'm always pulled away. But I don't go. She has nothing that I want, nothing that I need."
He leans forward to rest his forehead against Aily's and as always the sheer life inside him sends a soft tingle through her skin. "Stop living your life for someone else and live it for yourself. You don't have to serve others forever. Serve yourself, your goals and be proud of who you are."
He pulls back and that charming grin sneaks onto his face once more. "Or you can serve me if you really want to!"
Aily blinks. Her lips had been curving toward a smile, but it slips away, and answers "I do not serve anyone. I never have." a simple flat response.
She didn't understand how he could not See. She could explain, that the point is to control without the appearance to controlling. All he has seen her do that with is with the Sprite, whose delusions of grandeur made everything a thousand times more difficult. Given that, she had a admit, not understanding might be understandable,
Sometimes she believed her father sired that one just to give Aily the worse possible pawn imaginable.
"Serve you?" Her eyes travel over him, taking in the pool of fabric "Hmmm... you are not... ideal." too competent, too attractive, too intelligent, nothing like her former mistress. "You do have that one flaw, that could easily lead you to being killed. That is something." she seems to be considering it. At least until there is someone else... Her fingers swirl lightly around her abdomen as she thinks.
"Not easily controlled?" Caraid replies, arching an eyebrow. "Or is it that you'd find controlling me too much effort? I do have excellent stamina."
He smiles but then the expression falls away.
"Just don't go. You don't have to step into the spotlight but I don't want you to leave." He says simply. "Think about it, for what its worth."
He leans forward to kiss her cheek and then rolls out of bed and stretches languidly - giving Aily a good view of his naked body from behind.
As Caraid stretches nakedly, basking in his murderous behavior like some depraved psychopathic murderer who doesn't care what he's done, a voice calls out from below in the manor.
"Hello? Is anybody here? I don't mean to cause trouble, but the door was unlocked, and I thought I should come in and make sure you all knew. Hello? Anyone? Boo-ler? Boo-ler?"
Aily's hand was trailing down Caraid's chest, potentially ready to explore his assets. Her mouth opens to explain his Flaw, but not thinking it will work, since the golden man seems to only hear the parts he wants when the voice calls from downstairs.
A flash of annoyance flickers across her eyes, "If I stay, the first thing to do is to replace the help that..." she has already killed and buried "... found other employment. Grieving Lady Cort?" hmmm, that last part is too unbelievable. She'll work on that.
The maid rises, having already slipped on her dress after their 'goodbye' "I will see to whoever that is." she looks one last time down his length, "Until later, my lord."
----------
Moments later, a dark-haired elven maid with pale skin and red eyes walks slowly down the grand staircase. "The lady of the house has gone to her final rest, so we are in the middle of a transition." The barrels of oil should be delivered within the hour to transition it and all within to ash by nightfall. "Thank you for your concern" she pauses, studying the bone structure, it is always had with skeletons to know gender "Sir?"
"Oh, hey, boss, no one's ever called me sir before. Didn't think they ever would, but I don't object none," the skeleton replies in a genial, masculine, but-not-too-bright voice. "You call me whatever you want, boss. My old boss sent me here to help. The Shroud. Said you did somethin' for his Con-sorty-um, and they wanted to thank you proper-like. So they sent me. Like they say, old boss, different than the new boss. But, yeah, you tell me what you need, boss, and I'm happy to help. You need something moved, I'm your bones."
Other than his size -- he's a good six and a half feet tall -- there's little to separate him from most of the skeletons you've encountered. He is wearing a nice, study-looking pair of boots, and carrying a loaded backpack. A fine yellow sash crosses his chest, bearing the seal of the Carters Consortium. Some other fine-looking fabric is wrapped around his metacarpals, and a heavy iron ring shaped to look like the head of a ram, with curling horns sits snugly on the middle phalange of his left hand.
Aily's insides narrow as one more complication arises. She had hoped the powers would leave them alone long enough for her to tend to her business, but now a... spy? surely not...
She should have studied magic enough to see if this being had some kind of tracking or monitoring spell on it. Asking Mr. Stanton later would delay her plans but there is no helping that.
Plus it will give her time to consider His suggestion. "I am Aily Yor, the keeper of this household. Three lords share this residence at the moment. A warrior named Ceceka, a magic user named Mr. Stanto, and... another, named Caraid. I shall introduce you at dinner." she says accepting his service until she can determine if he can safely be disposed of.
"You stated 'something moved' as your skill set. Are you a laborer?" at least there would be someone to move the barrels of oil to the cellar.
"Yeah, boss," Humerus replies. "That's why they call me Humerus Fetch. Humerus Fetch this. Humerus Fetch that. You tell me what you need, boss, and I'll take care of it. I can push and pull stuff too. Grab things that are moving when they shouldn't be. You just tell me what you need."
Aily folds her arms and studies the thing called Fetch. Eager and strong it looks like, she wonders if removing its tongue would be an option, but beggars cannot be choosers. "We have an opening for a doorman. Apparently, people are just leaving it unlocked and attending. Do you need a room? And a wage, I assume?"
"Sure, boss. You just tell me where to put the door, and I'll put it there," Humerus replies. "I don't know nothing about any wage. I don't hold much cart with magic. It's a bit beyond me, to be honest. I think that may be how I ended up as a skellyton, but I'm not real sure."
He scratches his skull, clearly shallow in thought, which is about as deep as he can go.
Aily opened her mouth, thought better of it and then closed it. "I should introduce you to Mr. Stanton. He might be able to help you with..." she waves her hand toward his head "... yes, come with me."
She leads him up the stairs to the elven dhampir's room (not hers, the other one's) and knocks. "Sir, we have a new staff member, that you might be interested in." she calls through the door.
Telvir, roused by the noise comes to the hallway, trailed by Smoke.
He casts an appraising eye on the new visitor, "Fine structure, good density on the remains." He leans in close to Humerus' head. "Lost a tooth or two in transition, but that's a common problem. Smoke, heel."
The dog, who was curiously sniffing the skeleton's lower extremities, takes a step back.
"We can play later. I won't have you damaging the new," he turns to Aily, "Doorman, did you say?"
"Gyah!" Humerus lets out a startled screech and ducks behind Aily, trying to crouch down to minimize the fact that he towers over her.
"Sorry, boss, I don't like dogs!"
There's a slight rattling noise as his bones shake.