”I am Barnes, your loyal servant,” the man says with another sweeping bow.
The Brass Dwarf merely stares at Pen. ”I haven’t got a name. Do you mean to give me one? I shall accept whatever ye wish to call me.”
"It is a pleasure, Barnes." Pen is not used to servants, so simply decides to treat him like an innkeeper, a pleasant well-dressed innkeeper. Inns, she understood well, having travelled so much.
For the Brass Dwarf, she thinks "Lumi? Or Lume?" she says with great hesitation "Cause your luminous, next to the fire. " Past the hesitation is the Awe of the sheer beauty of the flame reflecting against their skin.
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Briar is taken off guard by the scale of things and they had their own butler which was very strange. The entire situation mad her honestly a bit uneasy. "Well Barnes what exactly is this place? Who rules here or ruled here I guess may be more accurate."
When introduced to the various rooms she is curious about it, having not had a stable room of her own for so many years that she wasn't exactly sure what she wanted for her own lodgings. "I'll have to rearrange my own abode later."
When they pass the Ulfen paladins Briar leans down to Visna, "Friends of yours?"
"I do not want to press our luck in utilizing your resources and comforts, but I have a sense that this is far from over. Do you have a viable place for lodging while we figure out our next move?"
"Fear not! The daughter of Freydis has as many friends as her horn swallows of mead. Should the light of my guiding star ebb in her ebullience other hearths will still be warm."
***
"Ulfen Guard from the tales their arms tell. Long is their watch, and ignoble has been their charge. Perhaps here they will find worthier deeds..."
She turns to Barnes. "But here you are, a card of un-drawn suit. Unlike Lumi, I do not know whence you have come, or hwaet you speak of when you name this visit a return."
For the Brass Dwarf, she thinks "Lumi? Or Lume?" she says with great hesitation "Cause your luminous, next to the fire. " Past the hesitation is the Awe of the sheer beauty of the flame reflecting against their skin.
"It is a fine name. I shall accept whichever variation ye prefer," the Brass Dwarf says.
Briar is taken off guard by the scale of things and they had their own butler which was very strange. The entire situation mad her honestly a bit uneasy. "Well Barnes what exactly is this place? Who rules here or ruled here I guess may be more accurate."
Barnes smiles patiently. "This is Harrowheart, of course. You four are the masters of this place, as you always have been. We serve at your whim."
She turns to Barnes. "But here you are, a card of un-drawn suit. Unlike Lumi, I do not know whence you have come, or hwaet you speak of when you name this visit a return."
Barnes continues to smile patiently. "I was born and raised in the village surrounding this castle. When I came of age, I secured a position among the staff here at Harrowheart. It is my joy to attend to your desires, masters, even though it seems you may have forgotten that you are the masters. No matter, I'm sure it will come back to you swiftly."
Pen's lips form a tight line at the notion it is them with memory problems. As their lifelong servant is questioned she smiles at the brass dwarf "Lumi, it is then" having heard Visna use it already, it rolled into the ear with ease.
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Like Visna, Sanjana wonders at the phrasing of the butler. "How long have you been expecting our... return?"
But it was starting to make sense. If everything that had been created with this demiplane, that 'lived' here, was simply following an unending cycle, it would follow that their presence there was part of this cycle, at least for now. Time was not linear here, clearly.
The kashrishi continues to explore Harrowheart, selecting a bedroom next to one of the training rooms, which they turn into a cozy library. There is plenty of natural night by which to read, as it is a corner room and two of its walls have large windows with comfortable reading nooks on their sills. Sounds are muffled by the thick rugs, the brocaded curtains and the dozens of cushions and throw pillows scattered on the low sofas and plump armchairs. There are wide tables for reading or studying maps, magical lamps that burn without flame, and of course - rows and rows of shelves bursting with books, scrolls and tablets.
Sanjana's bedroom is similarly arranged, soft and warm, a multitude of brightly colored and embroidered fabric covering most surfaces. The few pieces of furniture are intricately carved and decorated with bits of glittering stone or glass, and aromatic oil burns in filigreed lamps, filling the room with the scent of cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, rosewater and orange blossoms.
Penelope was walking by an open door with an arm full of books that she had just found in a wonderful new library. The smell of orange blossoms and cloves draw her head to poke in the door way "Oh, Sanja... this is lovely!" the elf shifts the stack of books to her hip and runs her finger down the carved slopes. "It's perfect." she says with a firm pleasant tone, expressing that fate was right... for once at least. "Is it a memory, a dream, or a collection of subconscious comforts made into wood, fabrics, and smells?" as she finishes her pragmatic question, she looks startled, "Please forgive my impertinent prying. Too much Curiosity on my part. Like a cat." as if to make the point, a tuff of feline fur waffs down from her jacket, taking its time to find the floor.
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Pen then heads back to her room, setting the books on one of the desks. It is an octagonal room with high ceilings and a single tall window. The walls covered in irregular shelves peppered with nooks and crannies. Other than the desks there is a lovely robin egg blue chair, so fluffy that someone could laze in it for a week doing nothing but reading, and a bed, bigger than one person needs.
Besides that there is nothing else... other than cats. An orange tabby who has made a bed out of a wooden box on the shelf next to the window. A sleek white and black kitten who has discovered a pathway to the very top shelves and is currently battling a sprig of dried lavender.
So on and so forth.
As Pen finds herself doing every time she enters, she starts counting. "Ten?" a look of concern creases her face, before she notices her pillows breathing. A quick look shows tubby gray long hair under the pile. "Eleven" she corrects with relief in her voice.
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Sanjana smiles, gesturing Pen to come in. "Would you like some tea? This is... a collection of memories assembled into a dream. I took the best parts of every place I visited that felt like home." The kashrishi opens a small glass bottle, sniffs, then sprinkles a pinch of whatever is inside into Pen's tea. "I think you might like this one. And curiosity is never bad, don't ever apologise for being curious."
They run a thick, crystalline nail on a piece of embroidered fabric. "When I was small, my mother would take me fabric shopping. We would sit for hours in this tiny shop, the walls covered in yards of the most gorgeous patterns you can imagine, drinking tea and chatting with the shop owner. My mother would point, and the assistants would scramble to get the bolt down from the shelves and unroll it. She would hold it against herself, or against one of us, look in the mirror, and tilt her head just so." Sanjana illustrates, a subtle movement, easily missed. "That meant she liked it, so they would cut a length for her and fold it up and wrap it in this beautiful silk paper."
The tea tastes like the warm afternoon of a happy childhood. It tastes like safety and being loved.
"Oh" Pen was not wanting to interrupt, but the invitation combined with her utter and complete fascination of the room, had her perch her bottom on one of the chairs (or cushions) trying to settled the books in her lap, while also taking the cup.
The memory is enchanting, distracting her as her mind constructs the scene as vividly as possible, then she sips the tea "OH" the plain elf suddenly BEAMS into being pretty, her smile wide as she eyes.
Pen's smiles are always rather anxious or polite, but this... this is bliss.
"Sanjana... I have no words." so she sips again.
:)
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Eventually Briar visits her own wong of the keep she leaves the training area as is for the time having no specific need for any changes to her style yet. She does wonder if Visna might be up for a tussle later to practice, but figures she'll ask once they are all settled in or at least ready to go forward.
Stepping into the room that was to be her sleeping lodge she pondered the nebulous nature of it for a time before green fronds and plantlife begin to flourish around the room. A little slice of her home of Mwangi housed here, brightly colored sweet smelling plants bloomed, which Briar knowingly avoided touching. Her bed was a large hammock straddled between the walls. Near the back of the room sat three small carved idols full of filigree and tiny inlaid gems for eyes each representing her interpretation of Calistria, Shelyn, and Nethys respectively. Pressed deep into the spontaneous ju gle growth is a fourth idol, that feels hard to look at for any extended period of time and provokes an almost forgotten fear response. Shrouded in the foliage, ancient, and imposing was the statue of the Old Mother a respected but seldom called upon goddess, too often known as Lamashtu to others.
Small creature comforts were found hidden in the green room, tiered mushrooms growing out of the wall with a scant few books placed upon them like shelves, nearly swallowed comfortable seats fashioned from a strange mix of wood, bone, and silk upholstery. Delicate and finely decorated pottery sit just where they seem to be needed depicting pictures of dancing gnolls, scriptures of the clans, and other activities. Briar was in awe of all the life crammed into such a small space, but aside from feeling slightly suffocated it felt a little hollow and false to her. She shrugged and moved onward to investigate the others living areas.
"Sanjana" She called walking through the area until she stopped by the room with Pen and Sanja sitting in it. "Sanjan-oh. Don't mean to interrupt, but it seems we all have a small place to call our own?"
She looks at the great book filled walls of her companions room, "Mine is much like home, warm and lush, but something feels a bit missing and I can't quite place it. But since i've got the two of you, do we plan on exploring this place more or settling in to investigate the archways we saw when we first arrived?"
Gesturing Briar in, Sanajana sets to making tea for her as well. "Your instinct is sharp. There is no true life here, beyond us. And I think we have lingered here enough. We should be wary of being lured in by the promises and possibilities of this place, the comforts and amenities." The kashrishi sets a tall, steaming glass in front of Briar, various layers in bright colours swirling inside. A fat grub is curled on the rim of the glass, pinned with a little paper umbrella.
"We are on a path not of our choosing, but it seems that we must walk it. Let's find Visna and go see to those archways."
You return to the Great Hall to examine the archways. As you approach the arches, the mists grow clear and display a region in Golarion, as if the archway were actually an exit from the building into another place. You automatically understand that each one is a one-way portal back to somewhere on Golarion where a card from the Deck of Destiny can be found.
While the precise location that an active portal leads to may not be obvious to all, the card that lies beyond the portal is. When you approach an active portal, the name and imagery of the card that lies beyond manifests in your mind.
In order from left to right:
Arch of Hammers: This arch shows a forest clearing dominated by a few fallen trees. Briar and Visna identify the species of plant life as being common to the northwestern reaches of the Deadshot Lands in Arcadia. The card here is The Big Sky.
Arch of Keys: This arch shows a forested mountainside with an ocean on the horizon. Sanjana and Visna identifies the region as the Terwa Uplands in the Mwangi Expanse. The card here is The Juggler.
Arch of Shields: This arch shows a view from what appears to be the top of a rubble-strewn hillside. A scree-covered slope angles steeply downward, with a ruined stone structure protruding from the rubble nearly 200 feet away, while beyond stretches a barren badland of jagged hills and twisted fissures. Now and then, strange monsters creep and flop and lurch across this landscape, scuttling from one fissure to the next. You identify the strange creatures as a wide range of aberrations native to the Darklands.
Sanjana confirms that the region depicted is Open Bridge—a land in southern Vudra that rose from the ocean at the dawn of the Age of Lost Omens, only to become overrun by monsters. The card here is The Trumpet.
Arch of Tomes: This arch shows a 70-foot-wide jungle clearing in a dense, tropical jungle. Sanjana identifies the plants as being common to the southern reaches of Tian Xia, likely the nation of Nagajor. The card here is The Snakebite.
Arch of Stars: This arch depicts a landscape of grassy, rolling hills, dotted here and there with copses of trees. An ancient road, its paving stones nearly overgrown with grass, winds off into the distance from the base of the portal’s view. You're uncertain where this might be. The card here is The Silent Hag.
Arch of Crowns: This arch shows what appears to be a partially constructed balcony seating area with billowing red and black curtains, which obscure the view of the main theater beyond. Pen confirms that the VIP box the portal opens into must be located within one of the many high-class opera houses in the nation of Cheliax. The card here is The Theater.
Pen agrees with the two, just needing a moment to go back to her room to drop off her books and collect her staff and pack. She studies the arches, responds or adds to the knowledge of her companions, then suggests. "The Carnival card you hold Sanja, you said it would provide us details with an opponent we would face in the future. I'd assume they will be in there somewhere, so should we gather before jumping in?" the over cautious elf asks/suggests.
"I can consult the cards, yes, to try and get a hint on the nature of what or who we might encounter. But we should first select a destination."
Sanjana gazes at the xis swirling portals, then sighs. "My father has this philosophy of always doing the hardest task, or the most unpleasant chore first. So, as much as I would love to visit many of these enchanting places..." They gesture at the passage towards Open Bridge.
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Shelves and tables along the walls carry curios from her travels: a ceramic swirl of white, black, and a dot of white again, crystals that glow with the the Aurora Iobara, two halves of a broken crown, a scale amulet with inset amber, and across several other shelves a slightly heapish load of books alternately carefully sealed against the elements or creased and re-creased penny dreadfuls and cheaply printed folios.
At the center of the room a gameboard sits atop an oak table. Two opposing bands of warriors surround a Linnorm King, perched atop the head of her conquest. The pieces are delicately carved, their shape suggesting their role, but the inset spirals of the ivory are preserved in preference to a less abstract depiction of the pawns.
"Ha! Sanjana, the wisdom of your father renews itself through your voice, but hwaet is unpleasant about casting horrors back into the depths that spawn them!"
A fierce longing shines on Visna's face as she adds, "And this is the first time the new lands of Open Bridge have shown themselves before my eyes."
She ponders a moment. "As well, if The Trumpet has been found by one who exemplifies it, they may very well have plunged into perilous deeps."
When you are ready, you step through the archway and find yourselves transported to the location depicted. A ridge of jagged stone serves as a natural battlement at the edge of this hilltop. The ground on the other side is steeply slanted and strewn with scree. Armored soldiers look over the battlement with evident trepidation, while down below, roiling hordes of fleshy aberrations, from crawling globs the size of a human fist to bulbous, fleshy giants towering dozens of feet tall, rush back and forth between boulders and rents in the earth, as if unable to bear the light of the sun for too long.
You immediately noting the muggy heat of the area and the low rumble of monstrous growls, slithering, and howling that rises up from the hillside below. The two dozen human soldiers stationed atop the hill behind you are startled by the sudden arrival, but the ranking officer quickly approaches and salutes. She speaks in Vudrani, which Sanjana can translate:
"You are our reinforcements? I apologize for not following the order to retreat. It arrived too late, and now our commanding officer is trapped!"
Pen looks down at the milling abominations, her mind piecing together facts and the potential that Any of them is getting out of this alive.
[ooc=recall knowledge on what these things are? occult 19, arcana 24[/ooc]
As Sanjana translates, she asks the Kashrishi "Trapped where?" frowning at the delay in information transfer, so considers makes it so she can understand, but no matter how you look at a problem, if that problem requires social interaction, Pentella Cole is not the one to try and solve it.
Turning to Briar and Visna "I can make one of you be able to converse with them normally if that would help." She also considers for a moment and then casts another spell "And this one will allow us to communicate telepathically for the next eight hours, only when you wish it, no delving into memories or the subconscious, I promise."
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One would think perhaps Briar, being as learned as she was would have picked up Sanjana's tongue during their travels together. But the gnoll looked just as confused at anyone else listening to the Vudrani speech.
She gazes down at the swarming abberations and pulls her new spear from it's place along her back, the whole thing being a bit taller than her even. She looks around for any place that might be well equiped to try and wait out the hordes of creatures from the fissures to asertain where the guard captain could be.
"Visna is more spoken than myself, but you may need to save your magic for what we are about to wade through."
"My thanks Pen. I trust in Sanjana's words, but two tongues may oft achieve what one cannot alone."
"Oh my magic is all about memorization" the wizard tells Briar "So casting this won't affect when we are in the middle of... that." she looks down at the milling horde. Then as Visna says she'd take her spell. A little gesturing, a little chanting, then the warrior can now understand the language "Only for the next hour."
Both Pen and Visna recognize the fleshy aberrations as bhanyadas. Gobbets of flesh left behind from an untidy meal or a surgical procedure typically rot away if left where they lie, but when steeped in areas of powerful lingering magic or eldritch radiation, these bits of loose tissue might achieve some measure of animation, perhaps sprouting thick limbs to move about or tiny, multifaceted eyes to see. Near the magic-suffused Ghantibhu Pits in the caverns located beneath southern Vudra, where ripples of magic are powerful enough to rend the air and transform stone, these tiny, rotting castoffs form into even larger amalgamations called bhanyadas.
Bhanyadas are almost never encountered outside the Open Bridge region in southern Vudra, as the magic of the Ghantibhu Pits beneath that region create them. Bhanyadas taken away from Open Bridge quickly decay into a repulsive slurry, although though it isn't clear whether their demise is due to being too far from the magical energies that animated them or too far from the masses of other bhanyadas that give them cunning and vigor.
The sergeant points down the hill, where a ruined fortification stands. "Commander Araseesh went with a small group to attempt to take that building, but a swarm of bhanyadas attacked them and tore most of the soldiers apart before they fell back! Since then, we've seen enough activity down at the ruin to know that at least one person still lives. The bhanyadas appear to be preparing for another assault. Time is of the essence!"
Pen frowns, "Down the hill. Into the hordes of bhanyadas." she quickly relates everything she knows about the morbidly fascinating creatures below. "Even a hangnail could become a living thing in this magically soaked environment..." she had once considered doing a study on them, but no one wanted to fund it. They looked at her like a crazy person as she talked about them.
"No stealthy options, I didn't memorize a teleportation spell, which I will attempt to rectify in the future" teleportation skips so much of the actual enjoyment of the travel, she feels. "Do we simply charge in, explosions, axes, and teeth?"
The idea that leftovers from a meal would gain a perverted semblance of life was repugnant to Sanjana, so the kashrishi has not researched the bhanyadas as much.
Leaving the tactics and strategy to Visna and Briar, Sanjana takes out a small pot of henna dye, dipping the tip of a thick nail in it and quickly drawing a symbol on her forearm. They then gesture Briar to present one of her arms, and repeat the process on the gnoll's skin.
"When we are a little closer I can try to distract them a little."
When you are ready, you start making your way down the hillside. The path is treacherous, and you carefully scramble and slide down the loose scree and rubble on the hillside.
You are halfway down the hill when the ground suddenly shakes and shifts. Two swarms of fleshy bhanyadas burst up from the ground on either side of you, hundreds of tiny gobbets of flesh with prodigial limbs and jaws protruding from them!
Even with Pen on overwatch, the aberrations get the drop on you! They swarm all over you, biting and gnawing, their stench overpowering.
[spoiler=Odor of Rot (aura, olfactory) 10 feet.] Creatures other than aberration that enter or start their turn in the bhanyada's aura must succeed at a DC 27 Fortitude save or become sickened 1 (sickened 2 on a critical failure). A creature that succeeds at its save is temporarily immune for 1 minute.
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The foe must succeed at a Fortitude save against your class DC 30.
Success: The target is unaffected.
Failure: The target is dazed and can barely vocalize. It's stunned 1 and its speech is raspy and hard to understand. It must succeed at a DC 11 flat check to use linguistic actions or supply verbal spellcasting components until the end of its next turn.
Critical: Failure As failure, but the creature is stunned 3 instead of stunned 1.
Fleshy gnashing sacks erupting from the dirt, with biting swarming things chewing on them, and a SMELL that was truly indescribable. If she had to try that last part she would settle on an apple stuffed bloated cow that was rotting in suffering heat.
With all this lovely ambiance, it was a wonder that she cast a quick spell and shot straight up in the air, for an aerial barrage, not to run away, nope.
Sanjana was never the most agile person, so even with their low center of gravity the sudden shifting causes them to lose their footing - and then their breakfast, once the nauseating stench hits them.
They quickly envision the beautiful tattoo that Arhan had drawn on their body, invoking its protective qualities before attempting to defend against the swarming creatures.
"They are soft and fleshy, Briar!"
Despite her bulk, Visna twists aside from the sudden eruption of flesh, swinging wildly to clear a space for her to leap free!
Visna recognizes that these swarms are weak to area and splash attacks. She swings her axe ineffectually, then leaps to a clear spot away from the aberrations.
As Pen flies up, up, and away, Sanjana calls on their esoteric knowledge to further recall these bhanyadas resist all physical damage. They can counteract that by exploiting their area weakness, banking the boomerang so it bounces off numerous gobbets of animate flesh.
The boomerang severs extraneous chunks of meat, preventing what would have been a critical hit.
Sanjana shares the weakness with Briar, who swings her sword in a brutal arc. Once more, extra flesh falls off, preventing a critical hit.
The stunned swarm recovers and moves back to attack Briar. The other one stays still as its component bhanyadas chomp and chew on Sanjana.
The flying elf sends a green beam of energy to try and cut through the flesh, even with her magic helping her sight, the shot is far from center.
Seeing that Sanjana was still within the horrors' grasp, Visna bounds back into the fray, using her reach advantage to slash away from relative safety.
"A lot of bed bugs around here," Sanjana remarks dryly as the kashrishi catches their returning boomerang and launches it again at the swarms of abominations.
Briar manages one hit on the swarm attacking her before moving away. Pen disintegrates several bhanyadas attacking Sanjana as Visna leaps back to their aid. The Ulfen woman lands two good hits while the kashirishi bashes some with their boomerang.
The swarm attacking Briar moves to pursue her while the other one swarms over Sanjana and Visna.
Visna snarls, frustrated with the heaving flesh trying its best to crush her. "Sanjana, leave them to me and Maiden's Smile. I and my Last Coin will hold them fast."
Pen wonders and worries as she hovers in the air 'should have kept your fireball handy, Pentella Cole' she chides herself metally, forgetting that she has opened a telepathic bond with each of her companions, and just said that to each of them.
Another one of her searing green beams slams into the swarm below, ending as many of them as possible.
Pen disintegrates many more bhanyadas, then Visna delivers a powerful sweeping strike that eliminates the few remaining in the swarm around her and Sanjana. Meanwhile, Briar manages a critical hit on the remaining swarm, severely weakening it as she moves away again. The bhanyadas crawl and flop over to follow the gnoll.
With the last fleshy chewer dead in their swarm, Pen zips through the air toward where Briar is valiantly fighting alone. The wizard sends a much smaller ball of fire than she'd like down at the swarm.
"Alright, that's enough." Sanjana gives their body a big great shake, flinging off the few remaining bhanyadas, which are then disintegrated by Pen.
With a little space to breathe, the kashrishi, sends their boomerang flying at the creatures assaulting Briar.
Then they shout a few encouraging words to Briar, and strike again.
Between Sanjana's boomerang, Briar's blade, and Pen's fiery magic, you swiftly disperse the remaining swarm. You quickly make your way down the rest of the hill to the relative safety of the ruined building.
A tumble of stones surrounds a circular foundation of what must have once been a taller tower. The ruins are filled with tumbled stones, many marked with weathered runes.
A human soldier who must be Commander Araseesh is here, stacking stones over the bodies of their fallen soldiers. The bloodied warrior turns to you and draws their longsword, but quickly realizes that you aren't their aberrant enemies.
"Whatever your reasons for arriving here, you have come at the right time," they say in Common. "I humbly request your aid in evacuating this site."
"Commander, we are relieved to find you alive. Do you need healing? Are there any other survivors? Let us know how we can assist."
Sanjana speaks soothingly, watching Araseesh.
”The others are all dead, save for me,” Araseesh says sadly. ”I am not too badly injured, but there are still many bhanyadas lurking around! I cannot fight them off by myself.”
Sanjana’s keen senses allow them to feel a faint rumbling through the ground. The sound is periodic, like the footfalls of something massive approaching...
"I am afraid that time is not on our side, dear Briar," Sanjana interrupts gently. "It feels like something massive is approaching, and I much doubt that it is friendly."
The kashrishi turns to look towards the crest of the hill. "Let us fight our way back to your remaining soldiers, commander. We will protect you."
Araseesh nods. ”Let’s go!”
Unfortunately, you scarcely have time to turn around when the earth-shaking steps become obvious to all of you. An unmistakable odor of rot fills the air as a bhanyada behemoth strides into view! The monstrosity is made up of tens of thousands of component parts, all mashed together into a roughly humanoid shape that walks on stumpy legs. It has four thick arms ending in meaty fists, and its head is studded with tiny eyes all over its surface.
Four smaller bhanyada scavengers scamper ahead of the behemoth. Not much larger than dogs, these warty, misshapen tangles of flesh that walk on stumpy legs. Their bulbous heads split into a maw with blunt teeth.
Stepping quickly in front of the others, like a crazy person, Pen rasies her hands and shouts something lost in the deafening CRASH, as lightning tears through the air between her and the nearest bhanyada. Flesh blackened and blistered before jumping to the next and next.