The journey is set by Vyana's gruelling pace, covering a lot of ground at a fast rate. Thankfully the magus knows these paths well and you make good time on your way home.
Shortly after stopping for lunch, you happen upon a dead tree streaked
with blood to a height of 3 feet above the ground. Vyana, who has been leading the way, notices the bodies of three dead fey (sprites or pixies, it's hard to tell which) that have been pinned to the tree trunk a foot off the ground by thin metal spikes. Strange runes have been carved into the circumference of the tree, both above and below the bodies.
The grisly sight dominates the glade. Not an animal or a leaf stirs around it.
Strangely enough, Vyana recognizes the runes. Memories of a book that her mother kept secret, but the young half-elf had snuck a peek at once or twice.
"That's Necril," she says with a frown, pointing at the runes carved in the tree. "Nothing good is said with it."
She looks back at the others.
"We need to move faster."
As they press along the game trail that could only be very generously called a path, Vyana glances behind her at the woman following closely.
"Have you ever seen kobolds out here?" she asks. "Barlus always said to steer clear of 'em. But it looks like we're gonna have to deal with them one way or another."
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"I've not been out here much." Siobhan replies between breaths. "The tracks there were the same as the ones in the first clearing. We'll get him back and then we can get his opinion on them. Hopefully we can speak with them peacefully."
Someone much less acquainted with Siobhan's face than Vy could see that she's dubious about that idea.
"We're you in the same clearing I was in a moment ago?" Vyana answers with a frown. "Do you think that vermin that'll do something like that to pixies and other fey will be willing to discuss things peacefully?"
She shakes her head.
"I only hope that we're in time to ..." she shakes her head. "I'm not mad at you, Von. I know you're doing what you think is right. But I'm not going to be able to rest at all until I know we've done everything we can for Barlus."
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"We have to try." Siobhan counters. "Sarenrae teaches that no-one is beyond redemption. It might be that we are the ones to change their minds. But if we aren't then I'll be ready."
Her face falls as Vy returns to last night's topic of conversation and her speed increases, practically driving Vy down the narrow track. "I know Vy, I know. The moment we've given this stuff in we're coming right back out. Just you and I if we have to."
The words are said with the same fervor that the pair swore 'eternal sisterhood' when they were ten, the same passion which Siobhan used to describe her first kiss with Tobias and almost as much passion as when she plotted her revenge on the boy for breaking her heart.
Alorea shudders at the sight of the fey. "Poor little creatures. This is truly vile. Let us make haste." She continue to follow the other women, quickening her pace as best she can.
28 ROVA (IX) 4707 AR
With Siobhan and Vyana setting the pace, you make surprisingly good time back through the forest and the sun is still (barely) hanging in the sky as the town of Falcon's Hollow becomes visible a mile or two away. Some word must have got back to town of your approach, because out of the murky dusk three figures stand in the road; not exactly blocking your way but definitely between you and the town.
One of them is Jalene, the bartender at the Sitting Duck, the other tavern in town - a noisy, dangerous raucous establishment that she presides over with a great deal of pride. You kind of recognise the two men with her as Lumber Consortium goons that work for Thuldrin Kreed.
Jalene flashes Alorea a smile of recognition ("Hey there, Cutie,") which she then extends to the rest of you. "Hey there everyone! Looks like you went into the woods and came out again, which is - well, it's kind of unexpected to be honest with you. And, I'm not gonna lie, kind of awkward. See, this town works because everyone knows who runs things, and everyone knows who looks out for them. So if there is a cure for this plague that's running through town, it's for the best if it comes from us, see? If you all waltz back in with it, it's just going to cause confusion. And nobody wants confusion, right?." She gives Siobhan a wink. "It would be like that time when Von and I slept together and she thought it meant something and I had to explain that it didn't and it got awkward. Nobody likes awkward or confusing, right?"
She gives you all another friendly smile. "So if you did find a cure, best thing is to hand it over and Kreed will make sure it gets to the people who need it, yeah? That way everyone knows who to look to. Play nice, and you'll be taken care of too." Her smile turns sympathetic. "Really, it's for the best. You're gonna have to learn to play by the rules sooner or later, you're not kiddies any more."
Not known for holding her tongue at the best of times, Vyana has no desire to pay Jalene any lip service.
"If I thought for even a second that you were going to do exactly what you've said, we'd hand everything over," the half-elf says with a sneer. "But you need to learn to lie better, Jalene. Your plan is for us to 'die in the forest'."
Her bow slips into her hands and she draws a bead on the woman.
"I hate to be the one to put a crimp in your plan, but I have f@@* all intention of dying today."
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"It'll be exactly like that time." Siobhan adds, her voice oddly flat. "Since it didn't happen and neither will this. I trust Vy with my life and I wouldn't trust you as far as I can throw you. This is your chance Jalene. Stand down and walk away. My goddess believes in mercy but I chose mercy for the many over mercy for you. So stand aside!"
She pulls Courage from her belt and advances on Jalene with all the implacability of a juggernaut.
Alorea smiles slightly at Jalene's greeting, but the smile quickly fades when it becomes clear what is happening. "Jalene, please," the halfling calls. "There's no reason things have to go this way. Just step aside and let us pass. I'd rather not either side resort to violence here."
Jalene shakes her head, with a good-natured roll of her eyes and a rueful smile as Vyan points an arrow at her. "No no no, sweetie, do try to keep up - the plan was for you all to die in the forest, it was a good plan too... all the local young hot-heads run away, fate unknown, very sad." She sighs. "Such a senseless waste of life, but we would have mourned, and the town would have moved on. Now I'm moving to a new plan."
She grins with delight as Siobhan advances on her. "Oh, honey look at you, so stern, always so sure of yourself. What could have been..." Quick as a flash, she is moving, her hand grabbing at Siobhan and holding her in place as the other stabs with a dagger. "Look out sweetie, you're bleeding. It's so sad when that happens."
"No!" Alorea cries. She reaches out with her psychic magic to soothe Siobhan's stab wound, then creates a layered shield in front of the champion to try to protect her from further harm.
Lucia goes absllutly scarlet with anger as Jalen reveals her plan was for them all to die in the forest. "So all the troublumakers are just taken out like that, and you don't have to lift a finger?! Well sorry to disapoint you, *sweetie*." She moves to help Siobhan.
Jalene - 5 damage
Siobhan's attacks are easily dodged by the silver-tongued bartender, but engage her attention long enough for Lucia to get past her guard. Despite the pain, she gives Lucia a smile. "I'm sorry to have to say that you've always been a disappointment to me, sweetie."
The two goons with her aim their crossbows at Vyana and open fire before reloading, but only one of them manages to hit her.
Vyana grunts in pain as one of the bolts grazes her thigh, but releases her magically charged arrow at Jalane. Unfortunately, the distraction is enough to cause her arrow to go wide.
Snarling in annoyance, she summons a magical shield to help prevent similar distractions.
Now that Lucia has come to play, Jalene abandons Siobhan and focuses her attention on the bard. "I'm so glad we're able to resume our little chat from earlier," she almost purrs as she grabs Lucia's arm, throwing the young woman off balance as she stabs at her with her blade. Fortunately for Lucia, malice clouds the other woman's aim and she misses with the first attack - but the second attempt finds its mark, cutting deeply into Lucia's body.
Alorea's brow furrows as she continues to sustain the shield spell on Siobhan. She soothes Lucia's injuries.
Lcuia gasps with pain and shock as Jalene stabs her, but she keeps her focus and continues to attack with her sword.
Jalene - 21 damage
Jalene ducks and dodges, but can't quite escape Lucia or Siobhan's attentions. She grins. "Haven't had any partners who could keep up with me for a while, now!"
The two goons reload their crossbows and keep shooting at Vyana. The half-elf takes a crossbow bolt in the shoulder, and one in her leg that is a mere inch or so from nicking her femoral artery.
The magical shield flits into place, absorbing some of the damage from the well targeted bolt before vanishing.
Turning her attention to the fellows sending barbed missiles in her direction, Vyana sends one of her own with a little extra. She then moves to a nearby tree to attempt to take some cover.
Thanks for nothing, dice
Vyana's spell-ensorcelled arrow takes out one of the goons accompanying Jalene; he falls, still choking on his own blood. It bothers Jalene not a whit as she now starts to alternate her strikes between Siobhan and Lucia; although having too many targets to choose from means that she doesn't land a solid hit on either of you.
Lucia nods in agreement. "Yes, put your sword down it will maek it easier for me to stab you!" She keeps on fighting, but not very efectively.
Jalene just scoffs at Siobhan's words. "You got a high opinion of yourself, Von, if you think you're in charge here! You're bleeding worse than I am, and I think it's going to get worse for you. I'm sorry about that, I always liked you, but you chose your own path to get here and that's just too bad."
Alorea lets the shield spell expire as she unleashes her full psyche. The halfling eases Vyana’s injuries before hurling a large rock at Jalene!
[spoiler=GM Screen]
Jalene isn't able to dodge Siobhan's attack, and as she flinches away from the piercing sword-blade she doesn't see the rock Alorea flings at her until it's too late and it strikes her on the side of the head. She is bleeding badly now.
The remaining goon fires his crossbow at Vyana, but his aim isn't that good and the bolt only grazes her.
Rather than reload, he throws it to the ground and runs back to town! Jalene does her best not to let her true anger show, shaking her head sorrowfully. "You can't get the staff these days." But this is no longer a game to her, if it ever was.
Vyana wavers for just a moment, debating whether to put an arrow in the back of the fleeing thug or letting him escape and spin whatever tale he chooses.
Deciding that dealing with the direct threat is a more pressing issue, she turns her aim to Jalene and looses an arrow that sparks with electricity. A second arrow follows it, but vanishes into the brush.
The electricity from Vy's enchanted arrow crackles across Jalene's body, earthing itself in the light mail shirt she has been wearing for protection. It offers no defence against the sort of magic that the magus wields and the smell of ozone mixes with the reek of scorched flesh as she drops to the ground, her body still twitching slightly.
Lucia puts her sword away carefull before going to check that she's really dead and not jsut faking it. Once she's sure, she kciks the body a couple of times for good measure. "THAT'S for singing my song without permission."
Shouldering her bow, Vyana checks Jalene's still and cooling form for a money pouch and any jewelry before stepping into the brush to retrieve any recoverably arrows.
"If this is the consortium's general view on our return, we need to keep a low profile on the way back to the shop," she says. "Who knows what sort of tale that rabbit is singing to whoever will listen."
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Siobhan looks... conflicted as Jalene falls but doesn't step in to try and heal the woman either. "I gave her the chance to stop." She says softly. "Mercy is no weakness, but it can only be offered once." The last line is said in the slightly stilted tone she always adopts when reciting from the holy texts.
"Let's go." She decides a moment later. "We can come back to bring her body for burial once things have settled down."
Vyana moves close to Siobhan and reaches to touch the woman's shoulder. "You gave her a chance," she says in a soft, but firm voice. "She made her choice. Her blood is on no one's hands but her own. You ... we ... did nothing wrong."
Alorea struggles to keep tears out of her eyes as she looks away from Jalene's body. The betrayal stings, as does what she forced them to do. She hears Vyana's words to Siobhan, but they are small comfort to the halfling. "Let's finish what we set out to do," she says.
Vy doesn't find anything on Jalene apart from the armour and weapons se was carrying; she was out here on business and left her valuables back in town.
Leaving Jalene where she fell, you carry on back towards Falcon's Hollow and arrive there perhaps an hour or two later. News of your arrival spreads quickly, and there is a small crowd tagging along by the time you get to Laurel's to give her the ingredients she sent you to retrieve. The herbalist looks even more exhausted than she did the last time you saw her, but she gives you a nod ("That'll do.") that sends her fraying dreadlocks flying, before going back to her workshop. A few hours later, and the first doses are ready. Laurel looks proud but solemn as she hands you a set of vials. She looks at Siobhan. "Tell your mum they'll need the curse removed after they take this, not before. Wait an hour for best effect." She gives you all another nod. "You did good. People'll remember this, for sure."
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Siobhan takes the vials with a solemn nod and then heads straight home. There is no doubt in her mind that Cirthana is getting the first dose, and if she has her way Savram will have the second.
Indeed the young woman moves with the relentless purpose of a juggernaut, and while she isn't fast, she definitely isn't going to be stopped until she reaches her mother, passes on the instructions and watches her drink a dose herself!
"Once we've delivered those," Vyana says as they hurry along towards the chapel, "I'm going to be heading back to the ruins. Are you still coming with me?"
"It's really surprising to me that the curse affected Savram. I didn't think her ... type ... would be vulnerable to something like that."
She shrugs it away.
"Alorea? Are you coming with us as well?" she asks the halfling.
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"Laurel said it was because of the curse element." Von replies, "And it isn't applying negative energy direct, just using it to wither people away. Sav is still alive, no matter what people say about her." One of her small hands balling into a fist shows Vy just how much that still angers Von. "She's a victim right now, just like everyone else."
"I'm not saying that she's not suffering just like anyone else," Vy replies defensively. "I mean, I know you really like her ... really like her. And ... and that's okay. You should be happy and if she makes you happy ... then I'm happy."
"Alorea? Are you coming with us as well?" she asks the halfling.
Alorea nods resolutely. "Yes. There's still danger lurking there, and I'm willing to do what it takes to make sure it can't hurt the people here anymore!"
Happy to have someone else join the conversation and redirect it from where it was veering into very uncomfortable territory, Vyana nods, somewhat overenthusiastically, at Alorea commitment to the search for Barlus.
"Good. We can't delay any longer than needed," she says.
But unfortunately life in Falcon's Hollow does not (at least, not yet) move at the pace of your whims.
First, however, the good: Cirthana is overjoyed to see you all, and gives each of you a long hug. She listens closely to the stories of your experiences (or at least, as much of them as you care to share) even as she measures out the doses of medicine that Laurel has brewed up. At the mention of the magic component that she has to prepare, her expression falls slightly. "I can remove curses, but it's at the limit of what I can do. And even then, only a few times a day. But let's get the patients most in need up and about."
The two patients in question are Savram, who lies completely still, barely even breathing. Only the sheen of perspiration on her skin indicates that the is anything more than a corpse. The second is the dwarf deputy, Tabrik. Whatever innate resistance dwarves may have to poison, this curse has almost killed him and the dhampir both.
Almost being the operative word here. Within five minutes of Cirthana's prayers and Laurel's tincture, Savram's eyes open weakly, scrunched up against the light that she is sensitive to, and she gives a long series of racking coughs - but no blood. Still groggy, she stares around sleepily. "Hello. So what did I miss?"
Tabrik's awakening is rather more robust and laden with profanities as the dwarf complains about how hungry and thirsty he is, but is quickly silenced as his lover, the magistrate Vamros throws himself into his arms. Amid a storm of weeping, the normally-aloof halfling throws himself into a flurry of hugs for each of you. His normal eloquence having completely deserted him, he's only able to utter fragments of a sentence. "Gratitude, you have my - If there's ever anything - form of payment, please - just mention it and..." He falls silent in the end, offering his arm to the deputy and the two of them walk away holding hands.
The bad is the arrival of Deldrin, the Sheriff - and with him, the weasel-faced conniving conspirator of Jalene, the one who got away. He gives an evil grin as he points at you. "Them's the ones, Sheriff! I'd know em anywhere. You bastards, what did you do to that poor innocent girl?!"
Cirthana looks up from where she has been tending to her patients, suddenly aware that something is wrong. Ill or not, she gives the weasel-faced consipirator a deathly glare. "You are in my house. Have a care how you address my daughter."
Deldrin was affected by the recent blight, not as badly as some but it's clear that he is holding himself up by force of will and not much more. He gives a long, wheezing bout of coughing that allows Cirthana a chance to say her piece, before drawing himself up and giving you a (not unsympathetic) look. "I knew Jalene very, very well - enough to know that 'innocent' is the last word I would choose to describe her. Is any of what he has said true?" Weasel-face splutters a few protests but takes one look at Cirthana's expression and steps behind Deldrin for protection.
A cleverer individual would probably come up with a believable tale of complete innocence. Vyana, however, assumes that the truth will be sufficient.
"I don't know what he said, so I can't speak to the truth of it," she snaps. "But I can tell you what actually happened ... Jalene, him," she gestures at Weasel-face, "and another one intercepted us just outside of town. Their intentions were clear if not voiced. They planned to kill us and bring the cure in as if they had just managed to discover it on our sadly deceased bodies." Her sarcasm is undiluted.
"Unfortunately ... for them ... we didn't just roll over and die. We had the temerity to actually defend ourselves, having no desire to expire simply for their glory. In the process Jalene and the other fella met the fate they intended for us."
She glares at Weasel-face.
"What? Did she actually tell you that we'd be pushovers? Tell you that you'd be lauded as heroes once you'd executed us? You were an idiot to listen to her. You're lucky I'm a better person than Jalene and didn't put an arrow in the back o' your head when you turned tail."