"Was that empowered?"
Glaive still in hand, Tandyn charges the center cultist.
Tandyn cuts the cultist in half ending one of them.
Thawm gasps at the probably inevitable murder.
As the others stop pretending to murder her too, she grits her teeth and and cranks her crossbow for the earlier-promised second shot.
Aroden moves up behind Sir Tandyn while drawing his sword, and attempts to Daze a cultist (Blue). Will DC 14.
Cecily gapes at the casual murder just long enough for her disbelief at the wanton cruelty to turn to an ice-cold anger. She lets it take her as she lunges forward across the torn ground, vaulting over the obstacles in between her and the murderer, throwing herself at him claw-first.
Dorek glares at the remaining cultist, scowling at the defilement of the blood sacrifice rituals of his clan. "You m-madmen corrupt all you t-touch. Is n-nothing sacred to y-you?" As the shards of mystic glass fly by his head, he grins, drawing his blade. "W-what, does your f-faith tell you to b-blind yourself?" His grin falters as he notices the mystic glass shard sticking out of Tandyn's chest. "Are y-you okay, friend?" Scowling, he rushes at the cultist, his gangly legs eating up the ground between them as he rams his sword into the man's throat. "P-perhaps your g-god would like to t-thank you in person!"
His keen eye notices that the stabbed woman is still drawing breaths, though they are slowing. "The s-sacrifice - she's still b-breathing! She's not d-dead!"
Ahmose watches from the shadows the quick murder wet work being dutifully done by his company. The Blue-scaled Kobold beamed with pride!
This may bring me to tears. Such symmetry. Something to behold. A truer clutch a draconian couldn't ask for.
Feeling a bit emotional, the Alchemist Strides pass the beautiful scene of debauchery, swiftly takes out a Potion of Cure Light Wounds and dumps it down the newly made air conditioner airways woman.
The blue eyes of the kobold weep as he watches the fiesta behind them!
Cecily notices that the woman is still, in fact, breathing. And is being tended to by a little blue dragon. And...
"LUSHYA!"
She rounds on the cultist in front of her with an even greater anger.
Aroden again saps the will of a cultist, causing them to stand there dazed. Dorek and Cecily both charge forward injuring their intended targets but not bringing either down.
The remaining sensate cultist bears their holy symbol and ghostly locusts swarm the area sapping the life out of anyone near.
The Blue-scaled Kobold stops. He looks down at the still unconscious woman. He nods.
Ahmose then Swiftly takes out another Potion of Cure Light Wounds, and Moves to dump it down her throat!
The Alchemist then does his Standard bomb tossing trick at the inky blackness dealer!
Cecily shrugs off the magical assault and tries to tear the murderer in half as she whips to the side.
She yells out a frustrated, angry "SAVE HER!"
Thawm's crossbow makes a satisfying click as she finishes cranking it.
"Save her?" Thawm says absently.
She doesn't take that second shot yet after all.
Her eyes wide, she looks at the woman who just got medical treatment followed by an ethereal locust attack followed by more medicine.
She reaches out with her new gift and feels her connection switch from Tandyn & Dorek to Lushya.
(Or maybe a failed connection with Lushya...)
Dorek gasps as the wave of malice overtakes him, but after a moment, he blinks, scowling as he shakes off the effects of the evil cleric's power. Rounding on the cultist before him, he lashes out in a flurry of blades, his two swords sinking deep into the madman's chest.
"That was far too tense. Let's get Lushya to safety and strip the cultists' gear."
Aroden resists the ghostly locusts, swatting some away with his sword.
"Are there not others who can handle reclaiming the weapons and armor for a righteous cause? Maybe civilians who wish to take up arms against the demons? It seems an onerous delay."
"Well, I suppose it will go faster if I help. We do not know who will come by here next, or how many more cultists are about."
He gets to work stripping armor from the cultists.
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Dorek, Cecily, and Ahmose manage to cut down the remaining cultists with relative ease. However the sacrifice draws her last breath as her body can no longer take the loss of blood and injury. She was an older woman who Cecily recognizes immediately as her lost equerry, Lushya. Another unfortunate victim claimed by the demons and their allies.
Ahmose looks down at the old lady with her throat not so close with pity. The Alchemist stows the Potions as the others tidy up a bit....
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Cecily skids to a stop by Lushya and takes the hand of the woman who raised her. Her other hand cradles the woman's face. "Lushya! I'm here, everything will be alright! You're safe now! You're..."
She feels the emptiness, the hollow that warmth used to flow from. She checks for a pulse, feels desperately for a breath or the beat of a heart that never stopped loving her even when her blood betrayed her.
Nothing.
"No. No, no, no!"
The second friend, mentor, and surrogate parent of Cecily's is dead within, what, several hours?
Hot tears blur her vision as she looks to her companions, already starting to pull the armor off of the cultists. Dull-eyed Thawm, who'd been ignoring the woman bleeding out on the street.
Ahmose, who had been standing over Lushya, the acrid scent of explosives fresh on his claws, slipping a healing potion back into his pocket.
Cecily's on him before she even knows she's moved, heaving the kobold off the ground with hardly an effort, he own claws digging in roughly.
"You didn't save her," she spits.
She starts to squeeze.
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As the last cultist falls, Dorek steps forward to try and save the dying woman, but as Cecily rushes past, he stands back, glancing around for more enemies as Cecily comforts her dying friend. When the noblewoman yanks Ahmose from the ground, he rushes forward, tugging at the much more powerful tiefling's arm in an attempt to get her to drop the kobold. "C-cecily, stop! If we d-don't keep moving, more people will d-die. It is a great t-tragedy that your friend is d-dead, but Ahmose is n-not responsible for her death - the d-demon-worshipers are."
Once Cecily is finally away from Ahmose, Dorek stands in silence for a moment, his head bowed as he whispers a prayer. After a moment, he draws his bone ritual dagger and pulls a piece of paper from his pocket, cutting a deep line across his palm. Dipping a claw from his other hand in the inky blood welling from the cut, he scribes Hallit characters onto the scrap of paper, kneeling to place it in Lushya's unmoving hand.
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Thawm stands in the back, stunned.
She had felt her gut wrench as the connection between Lushya and herself was severed before it even fully formed. The world seemed a little less colorful than before.
If I had thought to smite those evildoers second... she thinks to herself.
Thawm falls to her knees. She sits on her calves, unable to remain kneeling. It wasn't the first time she couldn't save someone, but it was the first time she had felt them leave for Pharasma's realm. The first time her new gift wasn't enough even without thinking tactically. The first time it was unequivocally her own slow acting to help.
Thawm manages to put down the crossbow gently, ensuring the second shot stays unfired.
"I didn't save her and I could have..."
She sobs and prays quietly.
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A well-made chain shirt jingles against itself as Tandyn rips it free of a dead cultist.
"Are there not others who can handle reclaiming the weapons and armor for a righteous cause? Maybe civilians who wish to take up arms against the demons? It seems an onerous delay."
"It funds our mission, prevents enemies from finding them, and will help arm the tavern. It is rather bloody though... I have the perfect spell for that if you're interested..."
He starts repositioning the next corpse when Cecily yells. Ahmose did what? Alarmed, Tandyn abandons his efforts and rushes over placing a hand softly on Cecily's arm.
"Cecily, look at me. Breathe. You're right to be angry, but stay in control. This can't fix anything. Ahmose gave her a potion. He only meant well. Dorek's right, the cultist did this. Breathe. Let's put him down." Tandyn presses down gently on her arm. "Should we take a walk?"
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Ahmose doesn't make a sound. The Blue-scaled Kobold blue eyes lock onto the grieving Cecily. Ahmose only allows her to vent out her raw emotional response to this continuous cacophony of corruption, criminality and Chaos...
Aroden moves over to Thawm.
"She has passed to the Great Beyond. May her soul be judged fairly by Pharasma.
I too wish that I could have done more.
When we came upon the scene she was in such a precarious position that it would have taken a great miracle to save her. More than I can conjure at this time.
But there will be many more to save. Some we will help, and some we will fail. And yet we must persevere."
"No!" Thawm replies sharply before sniffling.
She grabs her crossbow and wipes her face on her sleeve.
"We won't fail again. Not while I'm there." she explains as another tear rolls down her cheek and she wipes her face again.
She gets up unsteadily, holding onto Aroden for balance and sniffling.
"Not while I'm there." she repeats.
"Let's hurry up, there might be more." she adds.
Topaz Solutions
A wooden sign above the door bears a carving of a bundle of
orange herbs and flowers hovering over a beaker filled with
smoking orange liquid. The building’s windows are tightly
shuttered, but the front door hangs halfway off its hinges.
Inside you hear people speaking in low voices, "Do you smell that? It's gross, there's something weird about that corner."
Another responds, "Quiet and grab the goods and lets get out of here."
Thawm points her crossbow at the doorway.
"Sounds like looters." she hisses.
Dorek nods, putting a clawed finger to his lips for silence, then moves to one side of the doorway, drawing his shortswords.
Ahmose watches both Thawm and Dorek setting up for an ambush at the entrance of their next shopping spree visit. The Alchemist seems intrigued by the sounds of whispering voices manifested out of said shoppe.
Isn't this particular place on the Cultist Menu as a base of operations? Following that truism then can we not expect that any whispers being whispered from said Cultist base probably are not friendly?
Ahmose will just duck around back to see about alternative avenues of escape available to said Cultist....
The Blue Whisper uses any debris, foliage or shadow as Cover...
He will scout the parameter and report back....
"Looters are merely misguided and may be shown the light. I would give such a chance to surrender. Demonic cultists are enemies in a war and I would not give them quarter."
Aroden has his sword drawn, ready for battle.
"They could even be survivors. It looks like they broke into the place, and cultists probably wouldn't have needed to. Let's find out..."
Tandyn approaches what's left of the door with Radiance drawn. He looks to make sure everyone's ready and swings it open.
"Hi there. Who are you and why are you here?"
As Tandyn stands in the doorway he sees six humans in the midst of taking a number of bottles from the shelves and shoving them into a large sack. They whirl in shock and one fumbles with what they were holding which drops to the floor and breaks. It forms a brackish pool of liquid that starts to hiss and steam as it eats away at the floorboards.
The six figures all wear leather armor with a raven or crow burned into the leather. They each carry longswords and have bows. One speaks up, "Woah there! We don't want any trouble. Just let us walk out of here. My name's Saybah."
"Worthies of the Ash Raves! How good it is to see you here. Kenabres is under attack from the hordes of Chaos, and we shall need your support to drive them back!
Now, these alchemical items, reagents, and weapons should indeed be useful in our fight. Shall we take them to Irabeth Tirabade, Commander of the Eagle Watch, to assess how they might be used?"
Dorek steps into the shop after Aroden, ducking his head sheepishly as he sheaths his blades. "S-sorry about that - we t-thought you were demon w-worshipers." At his feet, his shadow springs theatrically into the shop, brandishing its swords at empty air as it searches for foes. The tiefling glares down at his shadow, kicking at the ground where it lies. "S-stop that. You look like an i-idiot, I hope you k-know that."
Dorek steps forward, extending a clawed hand in greeting. "Ash R-ravens, you said? I've h-heard of you - quite the h-hagglers, some of the m-merchants used to say. P-please ignore my s-shadow, it's just s-stupid." He glares at Aroden. "B-before we get to dividing the p-plunder, you should g-get to safety. The D-defender's Heart is not too f-far away - there's n-not much of North Street anymore, but you can c-cut along Falcon Street and get to T-tower, and that should t-take you close enough to s-see the gates, j-just off West and T-tower."
Aroden looks to Dorek, slightly confused.
"Oh. Perhaps I was not clear.
We - the Ash Ravens and us - should together take these items to Irabeth Tirabade at Defender's Heart. That she may properly honor them for salvaging such resources and preventing them from falling to the demonic forces.
And we can help keep them safe on the way.
I had no intention of dividing these resources here and now. That is for the Commander to do."
Thawm pokes her head in at the door, crossbow pointed at the floor.
"Ooh- they're- uh- not cultists?" she asks at the lack of battle sounds beyond that one hissing puddle of awfulness.
Tandyn smiles at the shadow's antics and snaps back to the matters at hand.
"Ash Ravens, we have been sent to investigate this place. It is reportedly a cultist safe house. Have you found anything that supports that or could tell us more about them?" He inspects the room, especially the corner with the weird smell.
"As Aroden said, we are operating out of Defender's Heart. If you travel there, you will need a password or they will shoot you with crossbows, but Irabeth will likely have work for you. Have the Ash Ravens taken a stronghold of their own now?"
Back in the street with Lushya
Cecily's grip loosens slightly as Dorek and Tandyn team up to comfort her, but she doesn't look at either of them. She just continues to stare cold fury into Ahmose for a few tense moments. "And he slipped another potion back into his pocket at the end. A potion that could have saved her." Her forearms tense, starting to fight against the two men at her sides, but in the end she relents, roughly dropping Ahmose to the ground.
She spends a few minutes kneeling over Lushya's body, saying her own quiet prayers and goodbyes past the tears. She eventually stands up and starts looking around, growling in frustration a few minutes later, "Where do they keep the gods-damned shovels?" It soon sinks in (perhaps with prodding from the party) that even if she had a shovel, there really isn't a good place to actually bury Lushya here, and she probably shouldn't be buried in the street regardless. Still, Cecily doesn't want to leave her in the street to be eaten by roving dogs or worse, so she'll insist on finding a safe(r) nook to squirrel away the body until they can come back for it. She also calls out for Roch (but I assume the horse does not magically trot up).
When they move on and she's had a bit more time to collect herself, Cecily starts to open up a bit more. ”Lushya has been with me my whole life, from wetnurse to nanny to my attendant here. She blamed herself when I was kidnapped, but it…it wasn't her fault. She has been there for me for everything. And I wasn't there for her when the cultists took her.”
[b]”Is there anything these fiends won't take from me?”
—--------------
At Topaz Solutions
Cecily itches at the chance to pound some cultist heads in but stands back and glowers once it becomes obvious that these people may be allies, just watching for them (or Ahmose) to step out of line.
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Behind Cecily somewhat, on the donkey's back, is a corpse covered in nothing more than a pair of sacks and the clothes she passed in...
The Ash Ravens look at Aroden skeptically for a minute as the wheels turn in their heads. Finally Saybah says, "Uh yeah, we're holed up near the water pumps north of where the Kite used to be. We can divide the loot, er, resources now, you take yer half to Irabeth and the Eagles we take the other to Tethys and the other Ravens. I'm sure Tethys, our commander, will want to hook up with the Eagles. Safer that way."
She regards Dorek's shadow nervously, "Look I've heard the witch Areelu Vorlesh is planning on coming back an claim the city for herself. If we're gonna take back the city we need to muster all the defenses we can before then right?"
Aroden looks to the others.
He seems pleased with the offer, or at least offer no pushback to the Ash Ravens, but says nothing.
Ahmose is seen drawing a straight line on the floor in chalk. The Blue-scaled Kobold then begins walking on it....
"Conversion of enemy assets is a high priority." Thawm explains with a nod, sounding a little like she memorized the line without fully understanding it rather than extemporizing.
The Ash Ravens depart peacefully.
The herbalist shop looks like a run of the mill shop with the exception of the bare walls and shelves. In the northeast corner is the light scent of mildew, as if water were leaking in from a ill repaired roof. But there are other signsof such disrepair.
"If this is a cultist hideout, maybe there's more of it under the mildew?" Thawm suggests, looking at her sturdier teammates expectantly.
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Cecily stares at Thawm for a wordless moment.
"I suppose it wouldn't be much of a safe house if everything were out in the open. We'll need to do a thorough search. Let's pry into the walls, ceiling, and floor a bit."
Tandyn starts by dragging all of the shelves to the middle of the room, and then starts prying at a floor board in the northeastern corner with his original cold iron longsword.
Ahmose continues to draw and walk the line as the Alchemist's blue eyes search for anything interesting....
Aroden will first inspect and then pry at the ceiling in the northeast corner.
Dorek nods assent to Tandyn's words, kneeling and drawing his blade. Experimentally thrusting it into the thin crack between the floorboards, he slides it along the gaps in the floor, trying to find any place where the foundations drop away from the floor itself.