A. Drallidur's page

"We should divide up the break enchantment scrolls. One to Myrna and one to Beatrix. I already have it in my spellbook, and can draw upon it should I need to. I agree with giving one of the potions to Unafe, and the wand to Beatrix. Beatrix will have to hold on to the dimensional anchor scroll, I cannot use it, nor can I make use of the resilient sphere scroll," she says as Sana goes over the loot, looking to divide it up equitably.

"As for the unholy water and the animate dead components, I would like to destroy both. They only serve to violate the natural order by facilitating the creation of undead."

Yui doesn't bat an eye at Unafe's merciful execution of the adept, thinking it likely more than the fool deserved, but not uncalled for given the situation.

"If we think we can get to Vang safely now, we should go while he is licking his wounds. He may heal fast, but his magic doesn't return so easily. I'm more than capable of matching him spell for spell at this point, and he's burned his most deadly magic already today. Tomorrow we'd have to deal with it again," Yui says after thinking the situation over.

"Lets give this room and the one above a quick once-over before we leave."

Yui searches the cultist quickly before beginning to search the room for anything they might have missed.
Search Cultist: 1d20 + 28 ⇒ (10) + 28 = 38

Search Room: 1d20 + 28 ⇒ (3) + 28 = 31
Search Room (Confidence): 1d20 + 28 ⇒ (18) + 28 = 46

As soon as Vang begins to cast again, Yui is ready. She had been too focused on their exploration to react to the disintegrate, but she wasn't about to allow Vang to succeed in casting a second time.

"I am glad we get a chance to continue our duel, Vang," she says as she turns to face him and in an instant unleashes a dispel magic to counter his spell, bolstering it with additional arcane power to ensure its success.

Imm. Act: (1 MP) Battlemagic Sense/Counterspell (1 MP) w/dispel magic; Free Act: (1 AP) Increase CL of dispel magic by 1.
6/11 AP left, 1/11 MP left

Counterspell: 1d20 + 12 + 1 ⇒ (14) + 12 + 1 = 27

She plants Kurushimi in the ground butt first and locks eyes with the wizard as the wave of magic she unleashed fights to clear away the rising mist.

Appraise: 1d20 + 21 ⇒ (18) + 21 = 39

"That is certainly an excellent deal, but perhaps you could cut us a discount based on the fact that this is to help protect Myrna and to prevent the demons from further abusing Riverkeep." Yui does a bit of mental math, and then continues, "I certainly don't expect you to take a loss on them, but at 175 platinum you should still turn a tidy profit given the cost to produce the scrolls. Does that sound fair?"

At the Bar

"Well then, it would be uncourteous of me to not accept your offer," Yui says, stepping up to the bar. "A red wine, Whalt-san, お願いします," she says respectfully with a small bow.

Knowledge(Nobility): 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (10) + 10 = 20

While wine was not the best year for a House Varamis varietal, they were known for their distinct blend of varietals and refusal to use more modern magical aging processes for their vintages. Once Whalt pours her drink, she takes a moment to savor the smell, swirling it before giving it a taste. It was hardly the best wine she'd had, but for Gundrun it was nevertheless an impressive find, and certainly there were far worse vinyards a bottle could have turned up from. Like the 'vinyard' she'd heard which was run by dwarves who were convinced that mushrooms could produce 'wine'...

"It is good, I have always meant to try a House Varamis red. I had certainly not expected to find one here. An unfortunate year, but still a good wine. Perhaps I'll bring you a couple of bottles from my Minkai next time I get a chance... And a fresh bottle of red to replace this one now that you've opened it. I'll happily finish the bottle. Rue? Beatrix? Anna? Would any of you care to share a glass?"

For the time being Yui stays focused on enjoying the drink and keeping an eye on the patrons. It was unlikely she could contribute anything useful to awakening Alase and convincing her to help.

"That should be fine, Unafe looks large enough to push the things through a portal," she says.

When Anna questions what she meant by Pharasma's service, she stops and thinks for a moment. "Right, you did join us mid-fight. I'm curious about how you came to be here as well, do you know Rue as well? I came here at her request to help out, although it was also due to Arastrax being here, which was convenient."

She thinks for a moment how to explain her own role. While she didn't usually share much about her past, given the situation they'd been in here, and the distrust shown by the Crusader Myrna already, Yui thought it best to just be up front about her situation. "Hmm... Lets say that I owe Pharasma many, many years of service for something I was involved in when I was much, much younger. Though originally bound to do so against my will, for the most part I find my role enjoyable these days. My job is to hunt down those who have violated the great cycle of souls, usually by destroying or devouring souls, or through the creation of undead. Kurushimi here is also bound to Pharasma, and the blade contains the souls of many I have judged over the years, along with the myriad of souls that were caught up in... well, to be honest... my own crime against the cycle."

"The only reason I am free is that within Kurushimi is the soul of an ancient Demilich, and his crimes far outweighed my own. I sealed him there in creating Kurushimi along with the souls of nearly a thousand innocents in the name of achieving immortality and the first steps towards apotheosis. Afterwards I was hunted down by a powerful psychopomp servant and slain, and my soul and weapon brought to judgement before Pharasma. There Saloc, the Tender of Immortals argued on my behalf and suggested this arrangement rather than damnation. For that I am grateful."

"This power I have, though my own, is bound to Pharasma now. The demilich within Kurushimi, the Daimyo of Suffering, has similarly been judged and bound to Pharasma. And as of today, the soul of the demon Arastrax is bound within there as well, awaiting Pharasma's judgement for his destruction of souls in his pursuit of stiching souls together. This summon scroll also contains the true name of a Nessian Warhound who is capable of devouring souls, which makes him a target for me. If I can learn the ritual that was used on myself and Kurushimi, however, I could bind him to service in penance for his destruction of souls. I could then summon him or even have him accompany me regularly."

Satisfied with her explanation she stops, but then chimes in briefly to add, "There's a lot more to 'why' i did what I did, and perhaps if we adventure together longer I can share it one day. But please, return the favor and introduce yourself."

After Anna finishes speaking, she turns to Beatrix to address her questions. "Given the size of the retrievers, it would be best to put them somewhere indoors and close to where they could be studied. If you could do a sending, and you and Myrna could step through the portal first, I think that would go a long way towards handling any issues with the arrival. The issue with Rue is correct. I remember her mentioning Drezen was rather inconvenient for someone of her nature. That said, I can easily teleport her to outside the radius that is protected if there is a good place to meet there, like those hills Anna mentioned. I can also provide her with fairly strong wards against magic that would detect her nature as long as she stays reasonably close to me. Procuring an effective disguise for her, such as a hat of disguise, would certainly help, however. I believe Drezen might be safer for her given it is further removed from the center of Crusader power, though certainly the retrievers and valuables we've found might be better handled in Nerosyan. Unfortunately I cannot provide disguises to others."

"Oh, and forgive my manners, please do me the favor of telling us about yourself as well, Beatrix. We could not have made it through this without your healing and divine magics."

While Sana works on other things, Yui helps organize all the loot, getting the prisoners they'd rescued to help along with her own unseen servants, Unafe, Ehren, Hinagiku, Myrna and Beatrix.

They begin by having Unafe take many of the items straight into her dreamspace, including the bodies of the templar nobles they had killed. It was likely that the Crusades would be interested in their identities, as some might be tied to known families that were still active in Mendev, given how the Templars operated. The chests of gold and other valuable items followed, along with all of the weapons except for Myrna's hammer, the entire magic forge, and the crafting tools. One of the library collections went in as well, with the other still in Myrna's care.

She then proceeded to take the smaller items and stash them in her own bag, doling out the potions to the group equitably, and handing the staff and rod to Ehren for his use. She also stored the instant fortress and Necklace of Arcane Haven in her bag for future use, along with all of the scrolls and wands. They could be distributed later. Once finished, she looks pleased.

The scroll of Black Gnash had given her an idea, one she would need to research. If she could get ahold of the same ritual Saloc had used to bind her and Kurushimi, she might be able to bind Black Gnash to Pharasma's service as well.

"We should find someone in Drezen or Nerosyan you trust that could handle most of the sales of these goods. I don't believe we have the time to handle offloading it all. Any ideas who might be able to do so?"

"With this all sorted out, I think we are ready to go, the best place to depart will be next to the retrievers I think. If we could get them through a portal, they will have significant value to the Crusaders in conjunction with these schematics and the control spiders."

Between the healing and honey restoring her constitution, Yui begins to regain consciousness. The first sensation that comes to her is a burning pain in her lungs as she breathes in. Rolling over off the bed, she falls onto all fours on the floor she begins to cough violently, gasping for air. Blood and phlegm spatter on the floor as her fit continues. When she finally is able to catch her breath, she sits back, her legs folded under her and wipes the blood from her mouth.

"Thank you, Ehren," she says as she sees him beside her with what she assumed was an emptied potion jar. Reaching out she calls to Kurushimi, who dutifully appears in her hand. Using the polearm as a brace, she lifts herself up slowly, her chest still burning from the poison. Sitting back down on the bed and clearing her head, she recognizes this as the templar barracks.

"I assume we won then?" she asks the druid. Is Rue alright? What about Hinagiku and the others? You seem to have made it through."

Laying a hand on her chest, she begins to incant a healing spell before breaking out into a coughing fit. Catching her breath again she starts over, this time using her mastery of magic to ignore the verbal components entirely. A dim light washes over her, relieving the pain of the ribs that had been cracked by Vang's magic missiles.

Casting cure moderate
CMW Healing: 2d8 + 11 - 3 + 1 ⇒ (8, 5) + 11 - 3 + 1 = 22
Yui goes from 0 to 22 HP
Con is restored, so max HP is now up to 120 post leveling

"Has anyone been to study the retrievers?" she asks, curious to see if she could find anything useful in the modified abyssal creatures.

Yui looks down in disgust at the shed remainders of Vang's swarm. The chest looks valuable, but it was unlikely there was enough time to open it. Heading back into the main room, she almost uses Amber to rejoin the group before noticing Arastrax unconscious on the ground. She turns and looks down the hall briefly and then looks back at Arastrax. "Rue, tell Anna not to move Amber, I will be teleporting shortly to join you all.

Striding over to the demon, she grabs Kurushimi with two hands guides him down to the demon's head then raises the blade up high. "Mother of Souls, I call to you to grant me the power to seal this soul away for judgement as is my charge," she says quietly in a prayer to Pharasma. Neither she nor Kurushimi had the power left to try to seal away Arastrax, as the fight so far had been far more challenging than expected.

Swinging with both hands and putting her weight into the blow, she attempts to sever the shadow demon's head in a single blow. As it sweeps down it begins to glow black flames, and the blade is sheathed in a shimmering translucent barrier. The blade slices into his shadowy substance as if he were made of flesh, threatening to sever his head clean off.

Using 2 remaining BP to deal damage as force damage this round

Attack: 1d20 ⇒ 6
Damage - Vital Strike, Bloodied Strike: 2d8 + 3d6 + 1d6 + 2d6 + 6 + 6 + 3 + 1 ⇒ (4, 3) + (4, 4, 1) + (5) + (2, 6) + 6 + 6 + 3 + 1 = 45
9 Damage negative energy, 36 damage force
3 bleed damage
Soul Strike - Arastrax takes a -2 to all saving throws for 1d4 + 1 ⇒ (2) + 1 = 3 rounds

SR: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (17) + 8 = 25
Kurushimi casts doom on Arastrax
Arastrax must make a DC 15 will save with the -2 penalty from soul strike or be shaken.

Arastrax must make a DC 14 will save or be affected by death knell (with the -2 penalty from soul strike, and the penalty from doom if he fails

If Pharasma is willing to provide Kurushimi with 1 legendary power, Arastrax is cursed and bound to Kurushimi as if affected by rest eternal and may not be freed unless Kurushimi is broken.

Spellcraft: 1d20 + 19 + 4 - 1 ⇒ (14) + 19 + 4 - 1 = 36
Counterspell: 1d20 + 11 + 4 - 1 + 1 ⇒ (13) + 11 + 4 - 1 + 1 = 28

"You seem to have forgotten that this mere illusion is still here, Vang" Yui says as she reaches up and once again releases a dispel magic to counter Vang's spellcasting. This time she's prepared, and despite having not encountered the magic Vang is using before, she's able to mentally deconstruct it to determine its arcane foundations. Once she's done so it's a simple matter to unravel the magic drawing forth the vortex of dark energy. The spell driven out of phase with the arcane energy feeding it, the swirling mass flies apart, blasting outwards harmlessly and dissipating.

"What you do not seem to understand, wizard, is that we do not need gods or ancestors or heroes here to defeat you. Our victory will be earned through our own efforts, just as your 'divine' magic was unraveled not by divine intervention, but by my own mortal knowledge," Yui says as she moves out of the fog towards Arastrax.

"Hello, Arastrax, I've been waiting for you," the masked kitsune says as she emerges from the fog striding confidently to stand before him. Reaching out, her hand begins to glow with a sickly purple light, which she reaches out, attempting to plunge it into the invidiak's form, the magic threatening to eat away at the demon's sanity.

Touch of Idiocy vs Arastrax; No save, -2 penalty to int/wis/cha for 110 minutes
Effective? (50%): 1d100 ⇒ 78
vs SR: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (10) + 11 = 21
Touch Attack - Flanking: 1d20 + 14 + 2 ⇒ (5) + 14 + 2 = 21
Penalty: 1d6 ⇒ 2

"Rue, let the others know I can no longer counter Vang's magic. It is up to them to keep him from casting now," she relays to her friend.

Spellcraft: 1d20 + 19 + 4 - 1 ⇒ (14) + 19 + 4 - 1 = 36
Counterspell: 1d20 + 11 + 4 - 1 ⇒ (18) + 11 + 4 - 1 = 32
Spellcraft: 1d20 + 19 + 4 - 1 ⇒ (10) + 19 + 4 - 1 = 32
Spellcraft: 1d20 + 19 + 4 - 1 ⇒ (3) + 19 + 4 - 1 = 25

Successfully Identify all 3 and counter the summon
Yui once again peers around the corner and unleashes a dispel magic aimed at countering one of Vang's spells. He was using resources to cast faster than she could counter, but at the very least she was still pressuring him.

Ignoring the tentacles for the moment, she steps into the room, intent to put pressure on Vang. Hopefully by so brazenly challenging him by standing before him she would focus the attention of the woman and Vang on her long enough for the others to push past the tentacles.

In a serene voice, she recites a brief poem to the wizard. "Waves crashing, breaking // The rock thinks itself mighty // The sand knows the truth." Openly she raises her arm towards Vang and extends two fingers towards him, channeling magic once more in preparation to counter him.

Mv Act: Close with Vang; Std Act: Ready an action to counterspell Vang again again again

The massive swarm of magic missiles that come flying into the hall from wherever Vang is, and the dispel that strips them all of their magic makes Yui realize that she has more important matters to tend to than dealing with the adepts. It was risky, but her best bet was to attempt to pacify them while moving herself into position to protect Ehren and the others from Vang.

Acrobatics: 1d20 + 20 ⇒ (4) + 20 = 24

To someone with Yui's fluid grace, the grease on the floor poses no real challenge. With a deft sweeping motion like a dancer, the kitsune-human slides into the corner of the room, her moves designed to keep the attention of the adepts in the room. As she stands in the corner her tails sway hypnotically behind her, the tip of each illuminated in ghostly blue flames. She plants Kurushimi vertically in the ground, blade up, and holds her other hand ahead of her in a gesture of respect. "Be at peace, brothers and sisters, the Lady of Graves calls to you, but you need not be afraid," she says in a tone somewhere between somber and cheerful. As she speaks the adepts near her begin to feel a deep sense of peace and calm flooding them, robbing them of their desire to do others harm.

The three adepts and Hinagiku must make a DC 21 will save or be unable to take violent or destructive actions for long as they remain within the aura.

The effects were unlikely to affect the swarm before her, but there was simply not enough time to handle them, and Vang was a far more pressing threat. The ghostly flames surrounding her tails flare brightly as she draws once more upon her mother's magic. Closing her eyes she wills herself to appear before Ehren.

In a flash of smoke and blue flames, a second Yui appears before Ehren, her tails each limned in the now brilliant blue flames that signified her status as a tenkogitsune, daughter of a kitsune who had ascended to divinity through apotheosis. She points Kurushimi at the swarm-wizard before her and calls to him. "Come now, Vang. You made the same threats when we crushed your retrievers. It was hardly hopeless then, and it is no more so now. But unsurprising that a wizard of such middling talent as yourself would think so. Look at how you cower behind an army of followers. Hardly the unstoppable force of the Abyss you would have us believe," Yui says, her voice dripping with disdain.

"Speaking of wizards of unremarkable talent, where is that craven, bodiless toady of yours, Arastrax? I bear a message and gift from the Lady of Graves for him. I have been sent to bind his soul and deliver him to stand judgement for his crimes against the Grand Cycle."

Yui adjusts her stance and readies herself, brandishing Kurushimi and striking a defensive pose. "Now, show me that magic that you pride yourself on. Demonstrate to me the hopelessness you claim I should feel."

Mv Act: Move to corner; Swift Act: Activate Catrina's Calm, calm emotions aura, 30 ft, DC 21 will save; Std Act: Mythic SLA project image 1 MP, 2 uses of displacement SLA (DC 20 Will save to realize Yui is a shadow illusion, only upon interacting with her image)

"しまった/仕舞った!" Yui exclaims as she dodges out of the way of the giant crab Hinagiku thoughtlessly dropped on her. She manages to avoid the worst of the creature's bulk, but still gets scuffed up as she barely squeezes out from under it at the last second. Getting back up and dusting herself off, she gives Hinagiku a displeased glance before turning her attention to Ehren's request and nodding at him.

Reflex: 1d20 + 15 + 3 + 2 ⇒ (17) + 15 + 3 + 2 = 37
Yui at 95/121

With the discussion in Grillixbee's chambers clearly occurring via telepathy, there was little point in Yui sticking around longer. Instead she decides to begin sowing dissent.

Bluff (Critical, Good Hope): 1d20 + 23 + 3 + 10 ⇒ (20) + 23 + 3 + 10 = 56
Yui hurries quietly into the room where the Adepts are working and closes the door behind her. She leans up against the door and listens then looks towards the others with a look that is somewhere between shock and anger.

In a loud whisper she addresses the adepts. "I just overheard a discussion between a templar and Grillixibee. They reported that the crusaders who just attacked had gotten their information on the new retrievers from Lile... And do you know what they were told? They were told to keep quiet about it and not let Vang know! Grillixibee must be working with Jerribeth and Lile to betray us. We must let Vang know immediately and prepare. You two," she says, pointing to the far two, "go to our quarters and make sure everyone there is ready to support Vang. You two," she says pointing at the nearer two, "go quickly and let Vang know. He will decide what actions must be taken. I will stay and keep an eye on the Templar dormitory and Grillixibee's room. Hurry! There is no time to lose!"

Parry vs 1st Attack (34 hit) - good hope, painful reckoning, battlemage, size dif, surge: 1d20 + 17 + 3 + 2 + 4 - 4 + 1d8 ⇒ (6) + 17 + 3 + 2 + 4 - 4 + (8) = 36

Parry vs 2st Attack (34 hit) - good hope, painful reckoning, battlemage, size dif: 1d20 + 17 + 3 + 2 + 4 - 4 ⇒ (6) + 17 + 3 + 2 + 4 - 4 = 28

This time Yui is better prepared for the construct's onslaught. As the ray streaks towards her, she brings it up, swinging Kurushimi's blade in the path. As the ray hits the blade's edge, it seems to continue into the depths of the blade, eventually vanishing. She then jabs Kurushimi at the Retriever's mandibles, preventing it from closing to bite her. Despite successfully blocking it, she finds her stance slipping due to the oppressive weight of the creature. When one of the creature's legs swings in from the side, it's only Kurushimi's power that guides it into place in time to cause the attack to miss.

The relentlessness of the creature's attacks push her to her limit, and she is not so lucky when the second leg strikes from the other side, cutting deeply into her torso under her right arm. Seeing yet another strike coming, she hangs onto the leg cutting into her, causing it to pull her out of the path of the incoming attack, only to guide her into the fourth strike which slices into her again on the same side, leaving another deep laceration.

"Is that the best you have?" Yui says to the construct before her as she recenters herself. "Lets see you do that a second time, you abyssal reject." Planting Kurushimi in the ground she adjusts her position, sinking down into a defensive stance and preparing for its next round of attacks.

Full Rnd Act: Total Defense (+6 AC, 33 AC [28 + 6 def - 1 grazed (35 AC vs Construct 3 due to +2 extra AC from Painful Reckoning)
Regain Martial Focus due to Total Defense

"Rue, you need to hurry and help bring the other creature down, and tell Hinagiku to cover me if she can. I will focus on keeping this one occupied."

Knowledge(Arcana): 1d20 + 19 ⇒ (9) + 19 = 28

Yui is amazed at the gem Unafe produces and its effects on the surrounding terrain. Whatever it was, it was clearly something she had never seen before.

"Gone? Hmm, well good to know. Given they know you and that things are picking up quickly there, I'll just teleport us there now."

With her focus turned to the coming combat, Yui's tails appear one after another until all nine are arrayed behind her in a fan, swaying in time to the her gestures as she begins to draw the magic to teleport Rue and herself. Moments later they appear in the chamber amidst the group.

The others feel a brief breeze as two forms appear in the room, one clearly Arueshalae. The other, a woman slightly shorter than Hinagiku, wears an ornate porcelain mask depicting a kitsune, a white kimono with grey and gold designs on the sleeves, tucked into a maroon hakama. Her most striking feature, however, are her fox tails. Unlike Hinagiku's one tail when in her kitsune form, the woman possesses nine tails which fill the space behind her and appear to slowly move independently of each other. In her left hand, slung over her shoulder, is a naginata with an ebony shaft which ends in a crimson blade engraved with symbols that look like a mixture of Tien and Sylvan script.

She scans the room and then looks down the remaining open hallway, clearly more concerned about whatever is approaching than the group in the room.

Std Act: Cast teleport to take Rue and Yui to the group
Teleportation: 1d100 ⇒ 7

At the forge
Spellcraft: 1d20 + 22 + 2 + 5 + 5 + 2 ⇒ (2) + 22 + 2 + 5 + 5 + 2 = 38

Li'an looks at Ehren and sighs with relief as she takes the closed and shielded box and places into her bag of holding. "I guess I shouldn't be surprised it put up so much of a fight given how evil it is. It's a start. Your mastery of the ley is definitely proving invaluable in this battle," she says, noting how Ehren had been able to push the forge's purifying flames beyond their normal limits. "I think we did a good job of weakening it and preparing it for the first smelting tomorrow."

"I am going to go rest," she says. "Even without the need to sleep, this fight is quite taxing." She walks with Ehren to the forge's exit, stopping briefly when she sees Joran. "We are done and the area is cleaned up. We'll be back tomorrow at the same time. Thanks for making time in the schedule for this, Joran. I appreciate it."

When they get out of the keep she waves at Ehren and takes off into the air, vanishing after a moment as she casts an invisibility spell. While it might come off as slightly paranoid, she wanted to make sure there was no chance of Narikopolous coming after the candelabra before she finished the purification. Given the artifact's power, it was likely only the shielding and nullification from the box that had kept her from divining its location so far, so every time they spent the day working it there was a possibility she might be able to determine its whereabouts. She flies home quickly and places the box within its hiding spot, then sits down to meditate for the rest of the day.

Posting the first two days now, will post day 3 and 4 later

Teleportation is always slightly disorienting, and Li'an's first instinct once the spell completes is to make sure they've actually arrived in Drezen. A wave of relief washes over her as she spots Ehren, Unafe and Hinagiku nearby, as well as Myrna and Beatrix beside her. She sees Ehren clutching his face in pain, and starts to move towards him, but finds her body unresponsive. The toll of channeling the energies catches up with her, the flames and crown above her brow vanishing as she her body falls limp to the ground. As the world around her is swallowed by darkness, she glimpses the gem she'd seen in her vision previously, glimmering in the distance.

Reflex: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (3) + 11 = 14 31 (42-11) damage
Reflex: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (19) + 11 = 30 11 (45/2 - 11) damage
Li'an is wounded.
47/104 HP left
Li'an takes 0 damage from burning. (9-11)

Unprepared for the onslaught of flames, Li'an is caught in the firestorm and loses her grasp on the scroll. In an instant it is incinerated by the maelstrom, eliminating their easiest route home. Looking down, she sees caught in the blast as well, his body prone and smoldering from the flames.

The situation was now dire, with both Ehren and the scroll out of commission, and her evacuation of the troops earlier had left her short of her most powerful spells. Before she could do anything, however, she would need to heal herself and her allies to buy them time.

Allowing herself to plummet to the ground, she lands with a soft thud and quickly unleashes a wave of healing energy.

Channel Energy: 6d6 + 8 ⇒ (1, 3, 6, 1, 6, 5) + 8 = 30
Should hit everyone in the group
Li'an is at 77/104 and grazed.

Her wounds mended, she closes her eyes and focuses on the feeling she'd had during the battle against the aghasura on the comet. The sensation she'd felt as the Aura's blade had nearly cleaved her in two. There, at the center of her being was the spark that linked her to the elemental plane of fire, something present in all brijidines.

To her, however, it was now a door she could open. The first time had been unconsciously, but she'd since learned enough to know how to throw open the gates in a situation like this. It was, of course, an extremely risky move. As with the prior fight, her body could only handle so much power for a few moments before it overwhelmed her.

When her eyes open they shine with a blazing light, and a crown of flaming runes appears above her brow signifying her brief ascension beyond mortal limits. Drawing upon the energies pouring into her body, she wards the group against the flames the Siabrae and their followers seemed to prefer, then quickens a spell to enhance the group's morale.

Free Act: Fall to ground, 5' step to right; Std Act: Channel Energy; Mv Act: MP Cast protection from fire, communal on everyone. Swift Act: Cast Quickened moment of greatness

Protection from fire provides 120 hp of protection to each person against fire before it fades and is a 12th level spell, Duration is 20 min on everyone; Moment of greatness provides each person an opportunity to double a morale bonus once within the next 10 min

Li'an is pleased when her first attempt at teleportation is successful. The magic she was using now was so far beyond anything her father had ever used that she finds herself wondering what his reaction would have been.

The situation in the infirmary quickly focuses her attention back on the matter at hand, with the two crusaders who remained infected continuing to fight against the disease. She's relieved to see the medics rushing to their aid, though the situation is dire.

When Markus comes in, she turns to face him. "Markus, it's good to see you, though I wish it was under better circumstances. I just returned from the Stonewilds where we had a run in with a fungus queen."

"Unfortunately, the spores got to almost everyone. I'm going to be bringing in the rest of the troops that accompanied us out to Caerwen. Unafe was able to innoculate most of them, but almost all of them will be drained from their effects."

"Additionally, Val was drained in an attack by the hag Jaruunicka's cursed blade. Myrna managed to break the curse, but as you can see, she's still in bad shape. I can help with restoration magic when we return from the stonewilds, but for now I have two more trips to make, and then we need to find Auraelia, who has gotten separated from us."

Thinking about the situation, she suddenly has an idea. She turns to one of the paladins, "Thank you for getting Markus. Can I ask one more favor? Can you head to the temple and see if Sosiel or one of the other priests there has a sending prepared? Preferably someone familiar with myself and my Lyrakien friend Auraelia. If you can find someone, have them come here and wait for me."

As the walls dissipate around her, Li'an stares in disbelief at the sight before her. Her father standing at the edge of the tower with a small girl standing beside him, who she immediately recognizes as a young Sana. Her initial confusion is replaced by a sense of elation and relief until she sees the hilt of Lleuad a'r Ser protruding from his chest, blood soaking the entire length of his tunic and dripping to the floor.

"So you have come to the rescue again," Elan says sternly to Li'an, his voice drowning out everything around her. She feels a knot in her chest as she seems to know the words before he speaks them. "That has worked out so well for you and your friends, hasn't it?" His expression begins to gradually change from one of disappointment to almost a twisted glee. "Your attempt to 'help' me led to you killing your own father. Your 'heroism' in attempting to save Sana left her suffering torment at the hands of an invidiak for how many years?"

Her father lets go of Sana, who falls limp to the ground, as shadows dance around her unnaturally. He walks up to Li'an and places her hand on the hilt of the blade in his chest. He guides her in pulling it out and gently turns her hand and arm so the blade rests against her jugular. Elan leans forward and whispers in her ear, "Haven't you figured it out yet, Li'an? Your very existence is cursed. Even your mother killed herself rather than be with you! Your friends were better off without you--at least Isilme they could count on--but you forced your way back into their lives, and now they are going to die. But it's not too late to break the curse..." He gently pushes her hand, the bronze edge of the blade starting to bite into her skin.

As the weariness and resignation begin to sink in, a mote of light appears above her, dim at first and growing in intensity. As the light falls on her father's face it seems to drain it of color and shape, leaving only formless shadows. That brief glimpse is enough to allow her to free herself from the spell's grasp. "No!" she yells, pushing back and tossing the blade to the side. Immediately Elan and Sana melt back into the shadows, and her attention returns to the fight around her.

Will Save - Morale: 1d20 + 13 + 4 ⇒ (14) + 13 + 4 = 31

This time Ehren throws up a fog, but before Li'an can even breathe a sigh of relief, the fog vanishes and another wave of unholy energy washes down over them. This time, she's caught off guard, still somewhat drained having fought off the phantasmal killer, and only barely manages to avoid the worst of the blow. Touching her ring, she channels her own holy energy into it and a wave of auroral light expands outwards, filling the tower and the space beyond with a healing warmth, and washing away the pain of the attack completely.

Will Save: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (3) + 13 = 16
Will Save - Assuring Anthem: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (6) + 13 = 19

Channel Energy: 5d6 + 7 ⇒ (2, 3, 5, 5, 6) + 7 = 28
Using Assuring Anthem's automatic ability to reroll on a 1, 2 or 3
Using Ring of Protected Life's ability to swift action channel energy w/o AoOs 1/day

Swift Act: Channel Energy w/ ring; Std Act: MP Cast wall of stone (3 MP)

Frustrated with the Babaus, and the continuing blasts of unholy energy, and not sure whether they would last long enough for the door to get open, Li'an tries one more measure, this time using her inner reserves to call upon the bedrock below. If she could get it into Unafe's hands, she hoped he would be able to fashion it into something protective with Sara's help. A solid slab erupts from the ground, stone legs protruding from it buttressing it against the tower and making it look like some strange elemental caterpillar. It works its way up the length of the tower, and curves to enter the belfry where it twists itself vertically and begins wrapping around the group to reach Unafe, while minimizing the chance that the unbroken line from the ground to Unafe will be severed intentionally by a demon.

Li'an will build the wall 1" thick (instead of 2") up from the ground to allow for the buttressing necessary to get it to go up to the top of the tower and inwards so it is within reach of Unafe

With the arguments with Goryon 'resolved' for the time being, Li'an finds a quiet corner to meditate. Her first task was to prepare herself for the new day. Clearing her mind, she focuses on regaining control of the power within her that enabled her arcana. From what she understood, wizards encoded the energy within them with the formula of their spells, effectively binding that arcane power in a specific form. It was a rigorous process that required a deep understanding of the structure of arcane power. Her magic certainly couldn't be labeled as wizardry.

While she could unleash spells on scrolls trivially, but just as she'd never been able to really effectively 'learn' spells that way before she'd died, she could not do so now either. That clearly placed her arcana within the boundaries of sorcery. However, here too she found herself a poor fit. The discussions and descriptions she had read in literature--at least by the few scholars interested enough to delve into the nature of sorcery--suggested that their arcane power was more of a river which they could harness towards certain ends, most often through sheer willpower and with only a reflexive, unconscious understanding of how it was done.

To Li'an her power was a like a lake formed from a wellspring within her. It was placid, but so large that it could not be directly manipulated. Instead she had adapted what she had learned of wizardry to enable her to create 'vessels' that allowed her to divide the arcane energy into more manageable portions. Each of these vessels, in turn, she could manipulate into various forms. She could not learn spells from spell books directly, but with enough study she could begin to learn how to manipulate the contents of a vessel to achieve the same effect. Unlike with sorcery it was deliberate, conscious effort that allowed her to unleash her magic.

Once she has finished preparing her vessels she stands to stretch. She again takes a moment to look herself over, marveling that she bore no scars of the grievous wounds she had been dealt in the skymetal chamber. She uses her magic to repair the gashes in her robe and garments and then gathers her things. Finally she picks up the massive adamantine axe that she had remained in possession of and hefts it onto her shoulder. She walks back to the center of the room looking like some exotic elven warrior-wizard, magic robes and massive axe sending mixed signals about exactly what kind of threat she might pose.

Standing amidst the group as they gather and prepare for their imminent escape, she listens to Ehren and Myrna discussing the best possible actions. "Since we know little of our location within the maze, nor of how far we will have to go to exit, we have little choice but to prepare for battle. One would think we would be in a position of significant advantage given we have access to the creator of the maze, but it seems that at best we will get coherent directions out. We should use any spells that might aid us going forward now, especially those that will last at least an hour."

She opens up her scroll cases and digs out two scrolls, her remaining scroll of see invisiblity and her scroll of communal nondetection. "Here, Myrna, take this. Given the Daemon Prayers used invisibility when they attacked us before, we should be prepared in case we encounter more foes making use of it." Once Myrna takes the scroll, she uses the other to enchant the group, protecting them from divination magic. It wouldn't help against the spirits hounding Unafe, but she had managed to turn it off once, so hopefully she could manage to do so again. She then begins casting additional spells, enhancing her own senses and enabling her to see the invisible, as well as warding her against physical damage. Finally she casts one more spell and is suddenly surrounded by a series of shifting images of herself that made it difficult to tell where she specifically was. If she had learned anything from the prior fight it was that she needed to not neglect the possibility that foes that could kill her outright could easily get atop her before she could react. She would not make the mistake of failing to ward herself beforehand again.

"I believe we should head out and clear the hall we're in, then use Pagbean's magic to hide us from further confrontations. I have a potion of invisibility, so we would be able to cloak all of us at least for a few minutes. If we can all hang onto Unafe, we may be able to make good progress in those few minutes, especially when we are invisible, warded against divination and protected from tracking via Ehren's magic."

Regained spells, other resources, and 3 MP for a total of 4 MP

Casting mirror image (CL 10, 100 min), heightened awareness (CL 10, 100 min), stoneskin (CL 10, 100 min, 100 hp), see invisiblity (CL 10, 100 min), and refreshed visualization of body (con) (CL 10, 24 hours)
Mirror Image: 1d4 + 3 ⇒ (3) + 3 = 6
Casting communal non-detection on the group, (CL 7, 1 hour duration for everyone. CL check vs 18 on everyone but Li'an, and CL 23 vs Li'an to get through nondetection.

Offered remaining scroll of see invisiblity to Myrna

Li'an tries not to roll her eyes when Unafe relays that the dragon really didn't want people touching her stuff. While that certainly wasn't how the Demetae Clan-liege put it, it wasn't hard to read between the lines. While she had sympathy for Unafe, the situation was extremely distasteful to Li'an. The argument that Goryon had been betrayed "countless times" certainly didn't make the situation any better. If anything it just proved that Goryon was no where near as capable or competent as she clearly believed herself to be. If she had to hazard a guess, it was likely that the "betrayals" were just beings who were sick of being told what to do by a companion who clearly considered them to be inferior if not straight up tools.

Taking her time to respond, she drifts over to where she'd spotted the Birzegut gem in the wall and reaches out touching it gently to see how it was mounted. She looks at it and the other crystals surrounding it, thinking it would be much easier if the stone they were embedded in would simply release them. She runs her hand along the stone surrounding the gems and finds it to react to her touch, as if it were almost fluid. Focusing on the sensation she watches in amazement as the stone reworks itself, each of the areas where a gem is set reforming into a small bowl that loosely cups the gems.

She pauses for a moment to look at her hand and back at the wall, letting out a pensive 'hmm?' as he tries to determine what had happened. She certainly had never been able to rework stone like that before. It was essentially the same as Ehren had done many times before, though significantly more taxing than it was to him, as she could feel she had used some of her energy to enable it. "Do you see that Ehren?" she looks back at the archdruid, drifting out of the way to show how the stone had reshaped itself. "I definitely could not do that yesterday."

1 MP to cast stone shape using Sara's blessing
Li'an frees and takes as many gems as she can in one stone shape from the wall, including the Birzegut

Her attention turns back to the gems, which she plucks from their resting places one at a time, storing them in the bag of holding along with the massive scepter. She then roots around in her smaller bag of holding, transferring the remaining 'heirlooms' to the same bag of holding for convenience. She then hands the bag to Unafe, allowing her to take possession for the time being.

"Not a problem, Unafe. I put some extra gems in there in case you're able to put them to good use at some point--we certainly won't be coming back, after all," Li'an says with a wink to Unafe as she hands over the bag. "Also don't forget to give me the bag back once you are done with its contents!" Unlike Ehren, she doesn't bother responding in Hallit, not seeing any particular reason to extend respect to someone who was unwilling to do the same.

When Ehren questions Goryon about their abilities to simply teleport out, she nods in agreement. "It would certainly be good to know if the wards are still functional," she says to Unafe. "In the meantime I will be meditating. Despite my extended, unplanned rest, I need to spend some time focusing on my magic to prepare for a new day."

Giving the Bag of Holding III temporarily to Unafe

Li’an’s awareness begins to grow, this time the light seemingly diffuse and all around her. Sound fills her ears, indistinct at first, but eventually recognizable as speech. Her eyes open to a strange sight—a massive, crystal adorned chamber seemingly designed for an inconceivably large giant. The bed she was laid upon stretched out what seemed like endlessly in all directions, the folds of the sheets around her like dunes of some satiny desert. She tries to move and finds her body weak and aching with the attempted exertion.

”Uhhnh…” she groans as she rolls over slowly to try to get to her knees. ”Where…” she says, half-asking as she stands to her feet unsteadily, gazing about the room to try to determine where she was. Her memories from Elysium told her that this wasn’t there, so it was unlikely she had died. Nevertheless, the location she found herself in was exceedingly bizarre. The soft surface she finds herself on is like an ornate tapestry crafted in silk, depicting crystalline dragons. The room around her similarly is adorned with crystals, leaving her at a loss for where she could be. They had previously been in a room made of skymetal without any real attempt at decor. She quickly spots her friends as she stands and floats off of the bed, trying to get a sense of its size.

"Where are we?" she repeats, looking at Myrna and Hinagiku, who seem to be awake. "What happened?" she asks, trying to remember what had happened before she had awoken. Her memory quickly returns, recalling the sensations of being nearly torn asunder by the Asura's vicious blow and somehow surviving it. She traces her hands over her robe which bears testament to the slash that should have killed her by all rights. Her body, despite being sore, was relatively unscathed.

After getting up to speed

With the situation explained, Li’an takes time to prepare to study the magic items that Pagbean had been unable to identify. The first thing was to renew the ritual she had expended to provide her the knowledge to effectively bring down the ice and shatter it safely. ”I will need to meditate for an hour, once I’ve done so I will take time to study the items and valuables that we’ve found,” she explains to the others. Setting herself up on the ground she sits and begins to focus inward, gathering her thoughts together and binding them with magic. In a sense the spell functioned as a catalog of all the things she knew, making it far simpler to recall things she had encountered before.

Her thoughts augmented by her enchantment, she turns to the items before her. The act of identifying items was actually fairly mindless work, as most of the time was spent focusing on each one trying to resolve the auras before the actual work of interpreting what it was began. In the meantime she ponders the situation, trying to determine how they could expedite their escape. Ehren was out of magic, and while she could get them out of the maze, and possibly even to the gate, she couldn’t take everyone in one go. That would mean needing to have some people hiding inside of her bag of holding, but that wouldn’t work even briefly without an air source for them in there. Of the group only she and Hinagiku were able to go without air for long, so they would need at least air for two others to be able to get enough people in the bag for her to teleport.

When she finishes, she turns her attention to the valuables that had been in the bag, taking the time to set each one aside and do her best to appraise its value. As she does, her thoughts return to her dream, wondering if it was just that, or if it meant something more. Somehow just the thought of the battlefield and the sight of the giant Ibis soaring overhead was enough to get her heart pounding. Whether it was a dream or something more, it clearly had affected her deeply.

When she is done with the appraisals, she carefully places all the valuables within her bag of holding first, then all of the magic items, with the exception of the two axes which she ties together and gives to Myrna for safe keeping. "Unless we find something to wrap them in, I'd prefer not to keep them in the bag of holding," she explains.

Afterwards, she takes some time to search the room, scanning for anything obviously magic and taking some time to study it, as well as appraising the various wares and crystals adoring it. She quickly enchants herself to improve her senses If they were truly still on the comet, none of this was likely to ever be visited again, so it would be a shame to leave anything behind.

Taking all the magic items and valuables, and wrapping the sharp objects as needed. Storing them in the Bag of Holding. Giving the two axes to Myrna to carry, unless we can find something to cover their edges with, then will put them in the bag of holding.

Casting bestow insight for Perception on herself
Searching the room for magic items, hidden caches/rooms, etc
Perception (bestow insight): 1d20 + 21 + 4 ⇒ (7) + 21 + 4 = 32
Perception (bestow insight reroll): 1d20 + 21 + 4 ⇒ (18) + 21 + 4 = 43

Li'an grins at the aftermath of her second spell, the giantess brought low by a combination of her own and Ehren's magic. She briefly glances around the now eerily still room and sees her comrades exhausted but alive. She turns towards Ehren and says "I can't believe we did..." She was tired, and it was hard to concentrate now. She begins to open her mouth to continue her thought, but she never finishes the sentence.

As the flames surrounding her die down, her vision narrows and goes black, and a moment later Li'an slumps to the floor, her body now showing the abuse she'd taken, and her wounds still bleeding from the red Asura's parting gift. Whatever had triggered it, it had drained every bit of power in her body, leaving the battered, frail, and ever-so-mortal shell of an elf at the center of what had been a conflagration the likes of which the comet had never seen.

Li'an is out cold and at 1hp, still bleeding I believe. 8 hours rest is the only way to return to consciousness

Spellcraft: 1d20 + 24 ⇒ (20) + 24 = 44

Li'an is immediately aware of the giantess before her weaving magic, her innate sense letting her determine its nature before she's able to finish casting. Feeling invincible because of her current state, she merely laughs at the oni's attempt to cast baleful polymorph on her, not even bothering to try to counterspell it, though it would have been trivial to do so. "Is that what passes for the most powerful magic possessed by Oni? It seems your daemon prayers have fallen on deaf ears this time! Look on the bright side, your ashes are unlikely to be brought before Ayrzul to answer for your failure," she says, taunting the Oni in front of her.

As Li'an recovers from the shock of the blast of cold that struck her, she realizes that she and her friends are in serious danger. The Oni had bypassed the seal she'd placed on the entry tunnel and managed to wind up behind the party. Where there had been one Asura, now there were three, and Ehren, Unafe and the others were barely able to handle them. Meanwhile Pagbean beneath her had been almost killed by that last blast, and there was no telling when the next one would be coming.

Li'an's mind goes back to her final moments fighting in the ruined temple in Kenabres. She'd attempted to rescue Sana by sneaking in invisible and in doing so failed and died. She had failed her friends then, and though Sana seemed to have recovered somewhat from the trauma of being a toy of a shadow-demon, if Anna was any indication, she'd bear the scars for the rest of her life. The current situation was no better, it seemed like there was little chance of pulling off a victory here unless something changed drastically.

Looking at the Oni ahead of her, the frustration and desperation deep within her begin to be overwhelmed by a consuming hatred of the fiends who were threatening her friends. She allows that feeling to suffuse her very being, and the cinders of divine energy that remained within her rekindle with a ferocity she's never felt before. The metaphorical flames within her become physical ones surrounding her body, swirling around aup her body and wreathing her head in a crown of flame. She had no idea where the power had come from, but in the moment she hardly cared. Now was the time to revisit vengeance upon these mercenaries that had been sent by the Elemental Lord of Earth to do what he could not.

Before she could retaliate, however, she needed to aid her friends. Channeling her power through the ring she'd crafted, a wave of silver-orange flames sweep across the room, their warmth causing everyone's wounds to fade. There was little time to worry whether one of the Asuras might be within the blast given Pagbean's condition.

No longer bound by the conventional rules of magic, Li'an begins to evoke two spells simultaneously. As the flames swirl around her in a maelstrom, she calls out to the oni before her. Her voice reverberates throughout the chamber in a strangely intelligible mixture of Sylvan, Celestial, Ignan and Common, edging tantalizingly close to the truespeech of the Celestials: "Your names matter not, your words are wind, and I will render you ALL TO ASHES. NOW BURN!"

Her flaming crown burns a brilliant white as she unleashes the spells and a torrent of flames streaks around the room, scorching the giant zombie and onis only moments before a fireball engulfs them all. Despite the potency of her own fire, her blast washes across her harmlessly as she watches the smoke from the explosion begin to clear away.

Free Act: Activate When All Is Lost
For 3 rounds, use no resources including mythic ones, you auto-succeed at saves, have effectively unbeatable SR, and your hit points cannot go below 1. At the end of 3rd round you pass out until you have rested for 8 hours. Nothing can revive you until the rest is completed.

Std Act: Cast fireball; Mv Act: (5 MP) Cast fire snake
(CL 13); Swift Act: Channel Energy using Ring of Protected Life

Channel Energy: 5d6 + 7 ⇒ (6, 1, 4, 3, 4) + 7 = 25
Li'an is at 90 HP

Fire Snake (CL 13; DC 23 Reflex Save for Half): 13d6 + 13 ⇒ (5, 1, 3, 6, 6, 3, 5, 3, 3, 6, 6, 1, 4) + 13 = 65

Fire Snake - SR vs Young Oni
Spell Resistance: 1d20 + 15 ⇒ (18) + 15 = 33
Spell Resistance: 1d20 + 15 ⇒ (7) + 15 = 22

Fire Snake - SR vs Old Oni
Spell Resistance: 1d20 + 15 ⇒ (16) + 15 = 31
Spell Resistance: 1d20 + 15 ⇒ (9) + 15 = 24

Fireball (CL 11; DC 21 Reflex Save for Half): 10d6 + 11 ⇒ (1, 6, 4, 1, 6, 6, 3, 3, 2, 3) + 11 = 46
SR vs Young Oni
Spell Resistance: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (13) + 13 = 26
Spell Resistance: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (2) + 13 = 15

SR vs Old Oni
Spell Resistance: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (4) + 13 = 17
Spell Resistance: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (3) + 13 = 16

Summary (Vulnerabilities included):
Old Oni takes 130 fire damage, DC 23 Reflex save for half
Young Oni takes 130 fire damage, DC 23 Reflex save for half
Young Oni takes 92 fire damage, DC 21 Reflex save for half
Zombie takes 65 fire damage, DC 23 Reflex save for half
Zombie takes 46 fire damage, DC 21 Reflex save for half

Li'an still wasn't satisfied with the fact Goryon continued to refuse to share any information about what they were doing or where they were going. Instead it seemed that Unafe would do the ritual regardless of the group's opinions, and if the group failed to wish, would likely be forced to wish by Unafe. Seeing no other choice she steps up next to Unafe. "I will make the wish when you are ready, just signal me by tapping the ground three times."

She then turns to their new acquaintances. "Pagbean, biz riskli bir şey etmək üzrəyik. Mən sizdən və Lohaddan bizimlə gəlməyinizi xahiş etməyəcəyəm, lakin siz də bizi müşayiət etmək istəyirsinizsə, sizə mane olmayacağam" she explains to the gnome.

Li'an waits for Unafe to begin the ritual and gets close to him. "Everyone who wants to come with us should lay a hand on Unafe," she says, repeating herself in sylvan shortly thereafter so Pagbean would be able to explain to Lohad should they choose to join. Once everyone is in position, she looks to Zhaleh and waits to feel Unafe's tap on the ground. When she finally does, Li'an hesitates for only the briefest of moments before addressing Lady Zhaleh: "I wish for all of us in contact with Unafe to be transported to where Sara is located within this comet."

In the seemingly endless moment after the last word leaves her lips, Li'an wonders how her father had felt when he used his last wish to try to save Isilme from destruction. Had he felt the weight of each word as she had just now? Did he wonder what the outcome would be even as he spoke the words? Or was he so focused on saving her he didn't have a chance to think until it was done? There were a lot of questions she'd never gotten around to asking her father. Perhaps when she had free time she would visit Isilme and Aravashnial and ask her if she knew...

Just reiterating that I let Pagbean and Lohad decide whether to hang on to Unafe or not, and let them know when to make contact

Ironically, it wasn't anything in the vast numbers of tomes she'd pored over in the time since she'd returned that gave her her answer. Instead it was a memory of her childhood and one of the few times she remembered spending quiet time together with her father. He was never openly religious, but it had always been clear to Li'an that he'd revered the Song of Spheres. The memory must have been from during the first crusade, certainly before she was twenty. They had gone out to a field and were sitting in the grass, Li'an resting between her father's legs with his arms wrapped around her, his hands holding a book of Desnan hymns for them to look at. She didn't really understand the writing yet, so she spent her time watching her dad's friend, a beautiful blonde-haired elf singing the hymns. Her voice was almost magical... even now she could remember the words, though they had never held any particular importance to her prior to this moment.

Without a doubt this had to be a temple to Desna, and something deep inside nudged her towards the central orb. If the residents of this place had been Desnans, this place had lain dormant since then. Though she felt a stronger affinity for Pulura herself, the nostalgia of her childhood and reverence for the location and the beings who had lost their lives and their home told her the right thing to do was to determine how to play the hymn here in this temple for them.

Li'an smiles at Pele, "A pleasure to meet you, Pele! I was part of that group along with Myrna and the rest of my friends," she says, gesturing towards Ehren, Hinagiku and Unafe. Somehow as she looks over, she feels the absence of Sana, despite her only having been with them for a short while. "Devils have a way of corrupting that which you thought incorruptible, sadly."

Auraelia flutters down, landing on the table near the two of them. "It was good of you to speak up, it was clear we were getting Ngo-where with that grump of a Captain... At least it looks like his drink is finally as sour as he is!" she says in a whisper, and giggling when she looks back towards the Captain. Li'an simply groans at the pun and musses the Azata's hair, which yields a harrumph from the fairy-knight. "I'm Auraelia, pleased to meet you!" the Lyrakien says after smoothing out her hair again.

Li'an's about to ask if Pele cares to join her in questioning Nordvick when Annavinnia begins throwing a tantrum demanding that the artifact be handed over. "Hold that thought," Li'an says, turning back towards the Chelaxian.

She moves towards Annavinnia, gauging her intentions. It was hard to trust the intentions of anyone stupid... or evil... enough to worship devils.

Sense Motive: 1d20 + 22 ⇒ (13) + 22 = 35

Moving closer to the woman, placing herself between Annavinnia and the others and locking eyes with her. "Annavinnia, you seem like a clever enough woman. Perhaps you missed the part where it was revealed that it was an evil artifact created by an evil man for evil goals--which ended poorly for him--was the basis for that imp hanging out here corrupting people--which ended poorly for him--and resulted in the innkeeper murdering multiple people--which ended poorly for him--and was subsequently coopted by a charlatan to empower herself--which ended poorly... Are you seeing a pattern here? Are you really certain this is a path you want to follow?" she explains, adding emphasis to the most important points.

Diplomacy: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (18) + 1 = 19

Spell Resistance (Eldritch Breach): 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (10) + 12 = 22
Spell Resistance (Eldritch Breach): 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (4) + 12 = 16

With two devils closing on the civilians and Sana below her, Li'an finds herself having to delay her personal gratification to deal with the issue. Waving her hand at the demon who had attempted to instill fear in her, she calmly states, "ابتعد عن عيني أيها الشيطان"

She then immediately turns to the other devil closing with them, her eyes burning with anticipation. "اسمحوا لي أن أعلمك معنى النيران ، إيرينيس!" she calls out to it as she draws upon her powers deeply, causing a torrent of holy flames to crash down upon the unprepared devil.

Std Act: Cast dismissal (DC 22 Will save or be dismissed; 20% chance of wrong plane); Mv. Act: MP Cast flame strike (4 MP [3 lvl, 1 mv act], CL 13, DC 23 Reflex for half)

flame strike: 13d6 ⇒ (5, 4, 2, 3, 1, 1, 5, 3, 5, 5, 6, 5, 1) = 46
Reminder: Flame strike effectively does full damage against immune targets with Li'an's immunity bypass and damage increase to holy damage for fire being resisted partially.

Li'an looks over with disgust as the imp pops back into being, despite having been rendered a smear only moments ago. Clearly it was significantly more powerful than a normal imp if it had not only pulled itself back together already, but managed to travel here from Hell directly so quickly. Killing it again, while satisfying, seemed to be pointless.

"It's back," she says, her disgust and hatred clearly audible in her message to the rest of the group. "I am heading back upstairs before I am overcome by the urge to burn this place down to ensure it doesn't return again. The rest of you should come do something with it."

With that Li'an gives the imp a dirty look and steps into her own portal, appearing upstairs in the living room.

Using dimension door to teleport to the main room

When Li'an appears, Auraelia gets up and drifts over to her, looking somewhat confused. "It's back?" she asks, to which Li'an simply replies "Ugh, unfortunately so. Lets go to the room, there's something I want to do." She then drifts out of the room with the Lyrakien in tow, heading back to the room they'd gotten.

Once there, Li'an digs out a stick of incense, which she lights by conjuring a small spark. Drawing upon her magic, she grabs the embers from the incense, scattering them in the air before her. "Sut tyela sii' 'ksh-fea yassene sina eska," she asks in elvish as the embers begin to multiply and glow brightly, rearranging themselves in response to her query.

Casting divination, it takes 10 minutes

Li'an spent most of the time in the basement simply looking around for the demon. She wasn't particularly interested in dealing with the graves or anything else until the main problem had been addressed. It would probably require a concerted effort to draw the devil out, given it had been skulking around as a mouse for some time apparently.

Needless to say Li'an is quite surprised to see the thing deliver itself directly to her. She feels her blood begin to boil as she looks at its smug smirk perched upon a pipe above them. Li'an's eyes literally light up shining brightly with fire, and her hair takes on the character of flames, glowing red hot and waving in the air above her of its own accord. Her brijidine nature clearly evident, she returns the imp's grin and responds to it, "I have a question: Do you prefer to be cooked medium well, or well done?" Reaching out, she gestures wordlessly at the Imp, motes of fire gathering at her fingertips. Though she takes note of Hinagiku's attempt to interpose herself between Li'an and the Imp, Li'an takes a quick step to the right, unwilling to allow anyone to come between her and educating yet another devil on the nature of fire and torment of immolation.

Ignoring vocal components of spell w/component freedom
Spending 2 mp, 1 for amazing init, one to surge first ray
Initiative (Amazing Init): 1d20 + 7 + 1d8 ⇒ (8) + 7 + (7) = 22
SR Check (Eldritch Breach): 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (19) + 13 = 32
SR Check (Eldritch Breach): 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (3) + 13 = 16

Ranged Touch(Surge 1d8): 1d20 + 10 + 1d8 ⇒ (3) + 10 + (6) = 19
Scorching Ray: 4d6 + 4 ⇒ (4, 4, 5, 5) + 4 = 22
Ranged Touch: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (15) + 10 = 25
Scorching Ray: 4d6 + 4 ⇒ (6, 3, 2, 4) + 4 = 19
Ranged Touch: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (12) + 10 = 22
Scorching Ray: 4d6 + 4 ⇒ (2, 6, 4, 3) + 4 = 19
50% damage vs immunity
1/2 fire damage gets halved vs immunity, and the remainder gets increased by 50%, resulting in full damage vs fire immunity

Linguistics - Vis. of Mind: 1d20 + 11 + 5 ⇒ (8) + 11 + 5 = 24
Knowledge(Arcana) - Vis. of Mind: 1d20 + 20 + 5 ⇒ (2) + 20 + 5 = 27
Time: 2d10 ⇒ (7, 9) = 16

Li'an flips through the papers, finding the Infernal an exercise in tedium, pedantry and sesquipedalian loquaciousness. It was impossible to state anything in Infernal without at least a half-dozen pages of fine print, caveats and asides, all of which needed to be parsed closely for meaning--The language was, after all, designed for crafting contracts that were so mind-numbingly complex that the imbeciles signing them would always end up getting the worse end of the deal, even beyond the fact they'd just signed away their soul. That same impenetrability made it a fantastic language for personal notes that one wished to keep personal. It was only through her knowledge of the language, intelligence, and burning desire to find out anything that might lead her to the imp so that she could help it learn the meaning of a word that didn't exist in infernal, immolation, that she was able to coax some meaning out of the endless nightmare of cross references, footnotes, endnotes, indices and appendices that the notes consisted of.

After the better part of twenty minutes, Li'an finally closes up the journal, holding onto it for the time being, as the diagrams of the sigil might come in handy. "Apparently Linneus had attempted to and possibly succeeded at creating an artifact that granted wishes," Li'an explains to the group. "While the artifact's form isn't detailed, the notes claim it was referred to as the Covetous Flame and provides drawings of the sigil that was used to empower it. It wouldn't surprise me if the artifact wasn't tied to the rumors regarding this inn's past. Given the stories of this place, it's not impossible that Linneus was testing the artifact here."

Li'an is shocked to hear that Sana had found Kellvar dead in his room. It only solidified in her mind the need to get everyone downstairs together as soon as possible.

"Someone go help Sana investigate Kellvar's room. We need to dispatch the other ghost quickly and then search room by room to make sure no one else is alone, lest they become victims too," she replies through message.

Linguistics: 1d20 + 11 + 5 ⇒ (17) + 11 + 5 = 33

Li'an rolls her eyes at the Chelish woman's snobbery about the pronunciation of her name. When the door opens, Li'an introduces herself, "It's a pleasure to meet you, Annavinia, I'm Li'an Va'ardalia, don't worry though, I won't hold your pronunciation against you, I know humans have great difficulty with the elvish tongue," she replies responding to the woman's snobbery tit-for-tat. "We need to return to the main room, we are gathering everyone there to try to determine what is going on here." She gestures down the hall towards the stairs. "After you, Annavinia,"

Diplomacy: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (14) + 1 = 15

"Nothing strange down here," Auraelia responds via message after a minute. "Apart from Li'an trying to cast divination in the middle of all this. She's doing a wonderful job of ignoring all the distractions!" The Lyrakien shakes her head at the ever growing cacophony in the room as the crusaders fall apart without guidance.

She gets up and flits towards the middle of the room. She conjures up a series colorful motes of light and directs them to zip around the room, blinking wildly. She coughs and clears her throat and then does her best to yell in her tiny voice. "Will all you crusaders please shut up and stop trying to tear the place down? You're supposed to deal with actual demons and you're panicked about something that might be a ghost and some sealed doors? I can only imagine you would all be crawling under the tables, crying and soiling yourselves if we were at Pulura's Falls."

Diplomacy (Guidance): 1d20 + 11 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 11 + 1 = 15

"May the Maiden's shimmering lights guide me into the depths, but I swear these things only ever happen when I take my armor off," she harrumphs. Li'an manages to stifle a laugh, and returns to focusing on her divination, though she can't help but wonder if it's futile at this point with everything going on.

Li'an sighs, "No, Ary Bishop and Auraelia are different, my Lyrakien companion over there, in the plate armor, is Auraelia. I call her Arie for short." she says, sounding a little exasperated. "You probably aren't picking up the subtle '-eh' at the end," she offers with a shrug. The sound was a difficult one for non-elves to hear at the end of certain words, especially those ending with a strong vowel before it. "Secondly, I'm pretty sure Val has her starknife, wherever she is now, and Anevia's back in Drezen and likely has her quiver with her there."

She listens as Ehren begins expanding the questioning, and sees where he is headed with it. It was strange to think about, but it did sort of explain why she seemed so out of place, and yet so familiar with everything.

"4736?" Li'an asks sounding more than a little surprised. She had come back to several years having gone by, which was more than a bit of a shock, but to somehow be 18 years behind where you think you are was quite the problem. "You're off by nearly two decades..."

As she's thinking about it, something clicks in the back of her mind. The reference to being saved, and her father... and having two other moms. She'd had a long discussion with Anevia and Ary about what had happened after her death, how Sana had murdered her father under the control of the shadow demon Eustoyriax, and how they'd eventually freed her. "Wait, saved? And your father is gone? No, you can't be..." she says her mind fighting itself to make sense of things. Still, there was only one possibility that made any sense at all, even if it didn't answer everything, and her age seemed to line up with the year she'd given... "Sana?" she asks hesitantly, wondering if she was crazy to think that might be the case.

After Li'an had been tested by Irabeth and the month she'd been out on patrol with Anevia, the Lord-Commander had sent word up the chain of command looking for possible assignments for her. Orders quickly came back transferring her, and for a month or so she was relocated to Nerosyan joining a new unit that was in the process of being formed. At least until an 'unfortunate' incident occurred involving Li'an having 'mistaken' two Chelish nobles' imp familiars for 'demons'. Normally, this wouldn't have been an issue, except for the fact Li'an's fire spells were extraordinarily effective against the little creatures. The two devils had been vaporized in an instant, with only a giant char mark on the ground where her fireball had detonated.

The nobles, obviously not believing her excuse that she'd mistaken them as demons, quickly went to her superiors demanding proper punishment and recompense for their familiars. However, when they explained the situation, her commander quickly pointed out that the fact that they were claiming a pair of devils had been killed by a fire spell would likely trigger an in-depth investigation, given how outlandish the claim was. Given that neither of them was particularly inclined to spend the next week with Iomedaean Inquisitors digging into their every action, they quickly dropped the claim and left Nerosyan.

Li'an for her part had been privately reprimanded, though the incident was left off her record. Given the obvious antipathy she bore towards devils, and her ability to actually harm them, something her commander was aware of from Irabeth's reports, it was quickly decided that she should be stationed in Drezen once again, under Irabeth's command. It was the sole outpost that would ensure that she didn't run into any further Chelish Diabolists.

Of course her arrival at Drezen again posed a problem for Irabeth, as Li'an once again wasn't really suited for normal crusader tasks. When Irabeth came to Li'an with a mission for her, therefore, she was overjoyed. She immediately gathered the little bit of gear she carried--mostly scrolls she had crafted herself, along with the few items that Ehren had enchanted for her--and Auraelia, and headed out to meet the others.

The ride out was likely to be slow and tedious, but certainly no slower than she could have gone herself anyway. Unlike Auraelia, her ability to fly was not particularly impressive. Even in her heavy armor, the Lyrakien was able to fly circles around her. When she'd initially arrived at the wagon, she'd quickly found the hairs on the back of her neck standing on end. The sight of the blood red skin and horns of one of the people already on the wagon got her heart racing, but when she realized it was simply a tiefling she managed to calm herself down. After all, Valaria had been abyssal blooded, and it had not been her fault. Nor were the Underfolk like Lann responsible for their own appearances.

Their wagon well under way now, Li'an finds herself sympathizing with the grey-haired man. She hadn't brought any furs, not really having needed them in Drezen where the winds weren't quite so fierce, and the cold cut through her in a way that she'd never experienced before. Auraelia, on the other hand was unfazed by the temperature, though she was staying low in the wagon simply to keep from having to continuously fight the wind.

"O-o-o-k that's enough," she says finally done with the cold, her body clearly shivering. "I am so-o-o-o done being cold." She thinks through the various spells she'd read about and recalls that there was a version of endure elements that could be applied to multiple people at once.

"Anyone else want to be warmer?" she asks, looking around. "Err Captain, Lieutenant, Sir" she says, correcting herself when she remembers the two of them far outranked her, and there was a good chance the third one did as well. "Ehren, Hinagiku, Unafe, Lann?" she says checking with her friends (old and new alike) as well.

"Oh fine, leave me out of it," the Lyrakien at her feet says, punching Li'an in the calf.

"You clearly aren't being bothered by this weather Arie, Shush!" Li'an replies, reaching down to rub her calf where she'd been hit. "But I can certainly include you in the spell if you like."

"Maeri? What about you?" she adds, almost having forgotten their gruff driver. Once the others indicate their preference, she quickly weaves the spell, shielding all of them from the elements.

Using 2 MP to cast endure elements, communal. Dividing the duration up so everyone who asks gets at least an hour, if not two or three.

The cold having been dampened by the spell--though it was noticeably chilly to her still, just not miserably so--she looks more closely at the book the Lieutenant had been reading. Li'an had kept quiet earlier when the tiefling had offered her books and water when they'd stopped earlier, but she felt it important to try to overcome her innate reaction to the Lieutenant's diabolical heritage now. "A Bed of Shadows? Is that some sort of book on illusion magic?" she asks naively, followed quickly by "err... Lieutenant, ma'am."

When Lann mentions the inn they're headed to Li'an remembers having read about the Devil's Rest in some of the history books she'd read so far. Still, Lann had directed the question at the Captain, so Li'an waits to see the Captain's response before interjecting.

Knowledge(Local): 1d20 + 15 ⇒ (11) + 15 = 26
Knowledge(History) - Aided: 1d20 + 20 + 2 ⇒ (12) + 20 + 2 = 34
Auraelia/Aid Another - Knowledge(History): 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (19) + 7 = 26

On the trip back to Drezen, Isilme mostly kept to herself after the others rejoined the group. She had had little to say to Xander, and to be honest, there would have been no point even if she had. If the years traveling with the group hadn’t changed him, nothing would’ve. Perhaps there was nothing that could overcome the selfishness learned from spending an eternity surviving in the abyss alone, or perhaps it was truly impossible to overcome his nature as a shabti, despite having repaired his soul and become mortal. She did her best to care for Ai’sintar’s body on the return trip, until Ehren successfully reincarnated him. Desna seemed to have a sense of humor, or perhaps it was the green that did, as he had been returned to life as a dwarf of all things, though she had supposed there were worse things one could come back as, perhaps a badger or some sort of frog… His new, shorter and more stocky form had done nothing to dissuade her from kissing him when he awoke, however, throwing her arms around him and welcoming him back.

In the days that followed she’d helped him come to terms with his new form, and they’d begun discussing the possibility of getting a scroll of a suitably powerful polymorph spell to adjust his form to one that they would both enjoy more. They had also discussed the possibility of taking some time to travel, to visit Thuvia to find Gerrard and Mikael, as well as to get in touch with Jahani and the halflings that had escaped with the pair. The more they had talked about their future, the clearer it had become to Isilme that her time as an adventurer needed to come to its end. She had spent so much of her life either not truly caring about those she was around, or once she had, risking their lives and her own in a foolish quest to right everything. For once she’d decided she simply wanted to just be, especially since she was mortal. Discussing arrangements for Najat’s funeral had been especially hard on both of them. It had made it clear that both she and Aravashnial had only been a moment away from being devoured by the dragon, after which there would have been nothing. No afterlife, no reunions, simply nothing.

All their planning, however, had come to a screeching halt when Irabeth came with orders to arrest her and Xander. The thought of being separated again from Ai’sintar was almost too much to bear, but in the end, unlike Xander, she couldn’t abandon Ary. What had happened had not been her fault, and Isilme wouldn’t have been able to live with herself if she’d fled. And so she’d kissed Aravashnial and said her goodbyes to everyone else, entrusting her belongings mostly to Li’an, except for a letter for Jahani along with Cygnus, her armor and her shield. It of course had come as a shock—and a bit of guilt-ridden relief--that when she’d arrived at Nerosyan, she’d found her sentence had been reversed due to Ary’s sacrifice.

The situation, of course, was never going to be as simple as her returning to Drezen. After her meeting with Ser Abranci, her superior who oversaw intelligence for the crusades, she’d arranged for the two of them to arrive in secret in Drezen again with Ehren’s help. It was there she’d introduced Velthur to Duke, who effectively had been spymaster of Drezen while she’d been traveling. The initial introduction went about as well as could be hoped given the apparent absurdity of the situation. When they’d arrived in the room to meet with Duke and Isilme had dismissed Duke’s assistants, it took her several attempts to convince Velthur that the talking cat was not simply a joke at his expense. Eventually, she and Duke had managed to convince him that they could easily have several people stand in as ‘Isilme’ while Duke continued to run things without interruption. Impressed that they had successfully kept the fact that the second-in-command of Drezen’s intelligence operations was an awakened cat even from the Crusades itself, he’d found it hard to argue their logic going forward. Unfortunately, there was no way out of her and Aravashnial needing to leave to assume new identities. The crusades needed her whereabouts to remain a mystery to the demon cultists, and she couldn’t risk traveling lest Jerribeth manage to track her down to kill her, or even worse, capture her.

They eventually had decided that she and Aravashnial would take up new names and leave. She took up the mantle of Sisay Akram, a Garundi trader who, along with her spouse and business partner, Valar Blueeyes, set up shop in Aspenthar from which she quickly organized a resistance operation—along with Jahani’s help—to begin dealing with restoring operations within Azir, as well as expanding the Desnans’ anti-slavery effort to all the surrounding countries as she’d been commanded by her goddess. Eventually both she and Valar had been able to acquire scrolls to become human, which caused a bit of confusion, but had been easily explained given Sisay’s silver tongue. People easily accepted that the two loved each other, and that having Valar become human would enable them to raise a family together. A few questioned why Sisay’s appearance had changed as well, but a well-timed change in wardrobe and hairstyle had allowed her to easily brush off most of the questioning.

It was at this point that Sisay had taken Jahani aside to discuss things in private. She herself was quite a powerful priestess of Desna and scholar, and she had been teaching Jahani how to call upon the powers of Desna for quite a while at that point. With her identity no longer dependent upon Cygnus, Sisay had taken Jahani aside one day and gifted her Cygnus, as well as Sisay’s celestial armor and shield to her. Though she’d initially objected strongly, she’d relented when Sisay revealed that she and Valar were expecting. It came as no surprise to Sisay that Cygnus had taken to Jahani immediately, and while Sisay had continued overseeing their network of operatives working to free slaves, Jahani had been the one off on the front lines, sabotaging organizations and leaving a trail of broken hearts. Jahani is now a hybrid cleric ???/bard ???, VMC vigilante, Trickster 4 with Isilme's former mythic tradition and mythic powers

Whenever she’d had the spare spells and time, Sisay had continued to keep in contact with Yulin via sending, explaining that she’d no longer be able to visit, but kept inquiring after her and continuing to encourage her to not be held back by her heritage. She hoped to see her one day again in the future, but so long as the crusades continued it seemed unlikely that they would get a chance. She’d also spoken from time to time with Külə, who had long since grown past needing her guidance and attention and found something resembling peace in his life.

In the meantime, the halflings who had been freed in the original escape had managed to form Swallow’s Tale a small village within the Rahadoumi borders with the help of Sisay and Jahani. This village served both as a place for halflings to congregate among their own, but also as a place for those who had been freed from slavery to find comfort among those who understood what they had been through, as well as a place of pilgrimage for Desnans who came to hear about the cloud of swallowtail butterflies that led them to freedom from Azir, a miracle that had been repeated many times in the surrounding countries since then.

Though originally having spent some time in Drezen after their escape, Clovis, Hildegard and Cassandra had eventually found their way to Swallow’s Tale as well, though the three of them seemed to have been affected by the ordeal differently than the others. While many of the town had been content to stay in safety and help those who passed through, the trio became active in the resistance movement in Azir, and under Jahani and Sisay’s guidance had become competent adventurers and freedom fighters on their own.

Assuming that Xander flees, and it's known that Rahadoum won't free Ary without both of them, or that Ary reaches out to Isilme to let her know that she won't accept trading her freedom for Isilme's, Isilme will likely leave Drezen with Aravashnial instead of allowing herself to be shipped to Rahadoum.

Her goal will be to move to Thuvia, where she'll set up a shop with Aravashnial, and try to live a 'normal' life. She'll train Jahani to be her successor, including handing down Cygnus, and work with her to restore the Desnans' anti-slavery efforts in Rahadoum, with an eventual goal of ending slavery there and breaking Ary out of jail someday.

"I was pretty sure I was going to also," she responds with a half-laugh. "I don't think I've ever had a dragon fly through me before, and if I can help it, I never will again. But my Lady Starsong saw fit for me to live another day."

"Well, if the disturbance was enough for you to find each other and escape, that's just icing on the cake. Coming here through the river was clever, and certainly had to have been more pleasant than another two hours in the sewers. As for me, I immediately went invisible after the fight and went to find the three, and thankfully caught them in the sewers before they got too far."

Isilme sighs when Ehren asks about who had gotten out. She hadn't really had time to think since the incident, but now that she had a moment to pause and think about it, she couldn't believe Xander had simply refused to cast the scroll. Nearly a dozen more of the slaves could have escaped if he had just swallowed his pride for once and listened.

"Well," she begins when she remembers why she'd begun thinking about it again. "Remember the scrolls we'd purchased when we were going to visit the Demetae valley with Unafe? I'd remembered I still had those and pulled them out when we teleported out of the room to rejoin the others."

"I gave one each to Gerrard and Xander, hoping we could get the majority of the people out in one go. Gerrard immediately used his and escaped with 10 of those we rescued along with Mikhail, which was a huge relief..." She pauses and looks at Clovis, Hildebrande and Cassandra, wondering if there was anything she could have done to save more of them. Perhaps she should simply have cast the second scroll on her own. She shakes her head, abandoning the train of thought. There was no way she could have abandoned her charges, and Xander would have left them alone to die if he'd been given half a chance.

"Xander... I asked him to go immediately with Valais, Unafe and as many has he could take, but he refused. I tried to argue with him..." She shakes her head in dismay again. "The dragon burst out of the wall moments later and killed nearly everyone we were rescuing, and knocked out Xander, causing him to drop the remaining scroll and ruin it. These three somehow avoided the brunt of the blast and took off running. Unafe and Valais managed to heal Xander enough to get him up and they were able to teleport away, to Westcrown I assume. I am glad Valais and Unafe made it out, I was sure they were dead for a minute. But Xander... He cost so many innocent lives... I'm not sure if I'll ever forgive him for that. Butting heads with him on things here and there is one thing, but when I needed him most he refused to listen." She sits there in silence for a while, not really sure what else to say.

"But anyway, I was thinking perhaps we could try to leave in the evening tomorrow after sundown. I imagine we all need rest, and it will be easier to escape notice that way. It would be ideal if we had some way to carry us though. I don't think it's fair to expect our friends here to ride on your back for a couple dozen hours like we normally do. Do you have any ideas?"

Isilme dismisses the light quickly, then takes a moment to dig out the flower she had used yesterday. She wasn't sure where Ehren was, or Hinagiku for that matter, but she figured she could at least leave a trail for them. Once she enchants the rose, she chooses to include Cassandra, Clovis and Hildegarde, along with Hinagiku and Ehren.

In Halfling
"Come quietly, it will take us a while, but I know how to leave the city, and a place we can remain hidden," she says, explaining the situation. "This magic will help you find your way if we get separated for any reason, and it will also help some of my friends find us. I will need to make a stop along the way to try and give them a signal as well."

She begins leading the group along a path away from Sophini's, keeping her three little companions ahead of her and listening for the sound of anyone approaching them from behind.

Stealth: 1d20 + 21 + 2 ⇒ (18) + 21 + 2 = 41
Perception: 1d20 + 26 + 2 + 2 ⇒ (16) + 26 + 2 + 2 = 46

Once they've made it about half way to the sewer exit, Isilme finds a quiet alcove for the Halflings to hide in for a moment. "Ok, stay quiet and hidden here for a moment, and I will be right back." She casts light on a stone for them and explains that they could use it if they needed to see something, but to otherwise keep it hidden. She then casts invisibility on herself and swarms out the nearest gutter in the streets, heading straight up into the sky. There she makes a clear arrow downward towards where she had left, about 300' up, and about 100' across, before heading back down into the sewers and rejoining Clovis, Hildegarde and Cassandra. She removes her invisibility and resumes her normal form, then dismisses the light and gestures for them to continue following.

Stealth: 1d20 + 21 + 2 - 10 ⇒ (1) + 21 + 2 - 10 = 14
Perception: 1d20 + 26 + 2 + 2 ⇒ (17) + 26 + 2 + 2 = 47

She continues leading the group towards the sewer grating, trying her best to keep the trio quiet among the sewer rats and filth down below. When Hildegarde trips and falls into the sludge with a wet thud, then scrambles up spitting loudly Isilme tries to quiet him, quickly cleaning him up with prestidigitation to help calm him down. She listens intently in case anyone heard them, hoping that they were far enough along to the grate now that no one would be nearby or following.

Isilme puts up an arrow 300' in the air using trail of the rose, the arrow is roughly 100'x100' and points down to the sewer where she exited.

Isilme hears Unafe talking to Xander as he's brought back to consciousness, and subsequently Xander's call for them to hold on before teleporting away. Though still angered that her charges had been needlessly slaughtered, Isilme couldn't help but feel some relief that at least Ai'sintar's corpse had been taken away from the soul-devouring abomination before her. It saddened her that she likely wouldn't see him again, but there wasn't any time to dwell further on the subject.

With the others gone, there was nothing to distract Isilme from finishing the task her goddess had given her. The halflings had fled, and though the were rather slow, there was perhaps a chance she could buy them enough time to escape. And if she could enrage a dragon and a few demons, and give the city above a spectacle at the same time, it was the best she could hope for.

Looking the Etheric dragon straight in the eyes, she draws upon the last bit of divine power available through Cygnus to do her best to enrage the beast and invidiaks. "Hey, you! You off-brand white-dragon knock-off! I bet you love being those wizards' pet, don't you? Do they let you out of your cell to clean it, or do you sleep in your own dung? I bet they haven't let you out into the city even once, and now I'll head up and you'll cower down here like your masters want you to. I'm sure you can slink back to them and apologize for killing their slaves, instead of hunting me down like a real dragon."

Peering under the dragon, she waves at the group of invidiaks hiding in the back at the corner. "And I see you all back there, you pathetic little shades. I killed Eustoyriax, so a bunch of half-witted bodiless demon-wannabes like you had best keep hiding down here as well. Your impotent flailing will never get you what you want, so just keep lobbing those tiny little firecrackers you call 'magic'. Have fun!"

Bluff: 20 + 21 + 2 - 2 = 41

As she finishes taunting them she bursts into a swarm of blue and silver butterflies, the individual wings glinting in the shafts of light coming down from a nearby sewer grating. In a single fluid move the swarm flies out the grating up into the sky above, looking to get out into bright light to prevent the shadows from being able to toss their remaining fireballs at her. If she was lucky, though, they would come up and get blinded, and the enraged dragon would charge her recklessly.

My Lady Starsong, Song of Spheres, Tender of Dreams and Resplendent Goddess of Fortune, I am truly sorry I have failed those who you charged me with protecting. I owe all I have to you and will give everything I have to you. If you have any love for the three poor souls who are fleeing through the sewers now, terrified for their lives, guide their steps to freedom. I have nothing left to give them but time, and even that might not be enough to save them.

As she streams up through the streets in the midst of the daily traffic, and up the side of the building, she watches the people stopping and staring at the swarm streaming ever higher, the column nearly 20' in length. Once she's up in the sky she turns her focus down towards where she hoped the dragon would be following shortly.

No Act: Take 20 on Bluff, spending last MP. Free Act: Symphony of The Elysian Heart; Std Act: Butterfly Swarm Form; Mv Act: Fly through nearest sewer grate straight up 50'

Hearing Xander speak while she found her consciousness distributed among the swarm was a unique experience. Instead of simply hearing his voice coming from a singular direction, she instead heard it almost surrounding her completely. Despite the lack of sense of direction she had on the sound itself, she still was somehow conscious of the rough direction it had come from. Similarly, though she could 'see' Xander, she had to focus on seeing 'at' him. When she didn't her vision was diffuse and unfocused, seemingly seeing everything at once and yet not resolving any of it sufficiently to understand what she saw.

She thinks on Xander's question momentarily and then swarm seems to reply somehow as a collective whole, answering him. "It should be able to find an elf, however, and there are unlikely to be many here. If we also search for Najat in the same place then Ehren could verify that it is in fact them. Once we have done so, it would be easy to teleport in to free them."

Seeing Ehren fly in the room is a huge relief, Isilme gestures towards the final sauna discretely, as she calls to no one in particular, "Get your teleport scroll ready, I'll hold them off with another wall!"

Sending a secret message to Ehren
Bluff(No Pants Either, Humanoids): 1d20 + 21 - 3 + 2 - 2 ⇒ (10) + 21 - 3 + 2 - 2 = 28
Teleport scroll lie
Bluff(No Pants Still, Humanoids): 1d20 + 21 - 3 + 2 - 2 ⇒ (13) + 21 - 3 + 2 - 2 = 31

The combination of the guards decrying her goddess and the jolt associated with whatever the guard did only serves to set Isilme off. She was hardly going to let some Rahadoumi tool insult the Song of Spheres.

"Oh stuff it, you pompous ass. Why don't you take your first law and stick it where the stars don't shine!" she says to the guard as she prays briefly to Desna to guide her steps, allowing her to move easily through the water. Running with ease past the guard, likely where they'd least expected it, she reaches the curtain and then crouches and touches the floor, commanding it to reshape itself in much the same way Ehren had done many times. In an instant a solid two inches of marble seal the way to the guards, hopefully giving her time to retrieve her gear on the way out. As it seals over, she gives the guard a grin and a wink. "Have fun with your bathtime, boys!"

Free Act: Agile Feet; Mv Act: Go through water to door; Std Act: Cast stone shape
The wall is 2" thick and follows the green line, except above Isilme it ramps to connect to the wall, preventing jumping over it.