The sprite's wrath is continued to be conveyed by the elements' assault on Lorthact while she send more healing towards the monk. Her abilities to heal are clearly growing weaker, however.
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The small things of the ground as well as the summoned flower petals continue to harass the devil as Dewdrop prepares her next spell - healing for the beleaguered monk.
"You are a stain upon the very ground you walk upon, foul fiend!" Dewdrop cries out. "The earth itself revolts at your presence." She gestures and, sure enough, the ground itself seems to tremble. The nearby lichen shifts away from the devil and stones leap from the ground to strike at him.
With another wave of her hand, flower petals appear out of the very air to swirl around the Unraveler, their very edges sharpened by her words.
Suffering the full effects of the infernal spell, Dewdrop takes a moment to heal herself.
Her anger at having been transformed against her will has waned very little and the sprite turns to direct it at the newcomer. "Fat lot you know," she declares with a hand upon her hip. "I'm Professor Dewdrop Rosethorn - the only person to ever get a perfect six-hundred score on her philosophy final. And that was under Professor Milton, I'll have you know. I submitted my doctoral thesis to the Arcanotheign itself. So there's very little in this world that I can't comprehend." She gestures dismissively at the man. "So just toddle off to whatever level of Hell you escaped from and leave us to turn this bloodsucker into so much dust. If you bother us any further then we might just turn our wrath upon you and you wouldn't want that."
Dewdrop simply stands there for a few moments with a look of shock on her face. "S-she ... she transformed ... me," she declares in a stunned voice. "She transformed me." Her voice grows louder. "SHE TRANSFORMED ME!!" she shrieks in anger, rising slightly into the air, her wings buzzing like an angry wasp. Her face twists into rage before she tears off after the fleeing shadow.
"Oh, puh-lease!" Dewdrop rolls her eyes in scorn. "I'm from the first world. Do you really think that transformation magic will ..." The rest of her words are garbled and twist into the bleating of the tiny lamb that's taken her place.
"Oh, did we spoil your plans?" the sprite says with a smirk, not really mussed that her most powerful spell missed. She turns to the newly rising vampiric ex-monarch. "And you! You've had your bloody chance. We've already got a queen with fangs, thank you very much!" Another blast of sunlight streaks out, targeting Illeosa.
Dewdrop again displays an unerring lack of regard for aim.
"No sense saving this till last," Dewdrop mutters with a shrug before blasting out her strongest ray of sunlight.
Dewdrop raises an eyebrow in Remy's direction. "I think he missed his calling as a diplomat," she says with a grin before turning to face the undead horror.
The sprite's tiny face scrunches up in thought for a bit and she considers one of the staffs she carries. "I think we're going to have to come back to this," she says finally. "I don't know how to open it other than magic and the magic that I currently have to get past its defenses isn't strong enough." She shakes her head, not happy at leaving a puzzle unsolved.
When Edric expresses interest in the rune bound to the dagger, Dewdrop shrugs and glances around as if checking for eavesdroppers. "I know a shortcut way to do this, but it probably won't last so," she says, holding up the dagger. "And don't tell anyone." She spends a few minutes incanting over the bound rune and eventually it pops off into her hands. A few minutes more of chanting over the lizardman's axe allows her to affix the rune to the warrior's weapon. "There. Just don't get it wet ... or muddy ... or cut bacon with it."
Unable to resist a deep dive into esoteric lore, Dewdrop spends a few minutes tossing various tomes and scrolls into her magical bag for perusal at a later time, along with the coffer filled with coins and the gems. She holds up the discovered dagger, offering it to either of the others.
"Through there?" she questions, indicating the secret door.
"Those things are really becoming annoying," the sprite says with a harrumph as she attempts to return order to her mussed hair. "I hope there's not too many of them." A quick application of magic returns color to her pale skin.
Dewdrop screeches in pain as the blood is pulled from her small body. In response, she sends another blast of sunlight.
"Actually ... I think that's our line," Dewdrop declares with a hand on one tiny hip.
She follows up with a sunlight blast.
"Wait, before you open that," Dewdrop says, holding up a hand. "Let me deal with ... this." She gestures at the various wounds decorating the lizardman's scaly hide. She spends some time applying healing magic to said wounds. "There. Now you're all ready to be hacked, bashed, and bit all over again," she says with satisfaction.
Assuming that Edric needs little assistance to finish off the last of the opponents, Dewdrop gestures casually, sending an arc of lightning at the creature.
As the creatures move in attack, Dewdrop flutters up to be visible above her companions. Channeling her nymph blood, she throws a disabling glance towards them.
She then blasts the nearest of the undead with a ray of sunlight.
Dewdrop as well simply shrugs off the cacophony. It's not much worse than the cheering at the universities sporting events that she's regularly expected to attend. She looks this way and that, fully expecting the alarm to bring enemies.
The sprite has no issues at all avoiding the short drop and flutters down to land on Edric's shoulder. "Can't beat wings for flying," she says with a smirk.
Dewdrop looks over the carving for a moment and checks the magical aura surrounding it before turning to the others with a smirk. "I can't believe that people were actually using that for an activation word. Old Farnswaa was only using that as an example in his treatise on magical activation methods. He didn't expect people to take it so literally." She shakes her head and moves close to the opening. "Last one on the other side buys the first round tonight," she says before calling out, "'Consume me, Runelord Sorshen!'" Her form blurs into mist and vanishes through the lips.
Dewdrop nods in agreement, stuffing the gemstones and wand into her bag. She tries on the goggles - which seem perfectly sized for her diminutive form - before handing them to Edric. "You could probably use these more than I can." Using her knowledge of first aid, she tends to her companions' injuries.
First casting a quickened healing spell on Edric, Dewdrop follows up with one more searing blast directed at the ghoul.
"Oh, for the love of ...! Will you just hold still?" Dewdrop snaps, sending another blast of searing light towards the ghoul.
"Fine! You wish play games such as this, then ..." The sprite gestures elaborately and a bolt of bright and burning light arcs out to miss the undead.
"I beg your pardon?! Vagrant?! How rude!" dewdrop declares indignantly. She waves a hand and sends a streamer of acid at the ghoul.
"Now isn't that special?" Dewdrop comments once the ghouls have left. "Alirel, is it? Shall we go meet her?"
"Agreed," the sprite declares. "Now where is this warded door?"
"A fair value secret that would be, indeed," Dewdrop replies. Redirecting her attention to the general debate, she turns to Edric. "There is some debate in ecclesiastical circles on that very subject," she interjects. "The appearance of consciousness and the implied self-awareness does not, on its own, demonstrate the existence of a soul. Various magics have been fashioned that supposedly can detect a soul's presence, but the argument can be - and has been - made that they merely detect traces of a soul's surrounding aura; Not the actual soul itself." She turns to look back at the ghouls. "But it's not the conundrum that we will solve today. Before we retrieve these skulls, what is your intentions towards them?"
"And what would be the nature of the secret?" Dewdrop adds, fluttering down from Edric's shoulder. "I mean there's a drastic difference in value between informing us of what threats lie further in and letting us know that you passed gas ten minutes ago and didn't tell anyone. Both being secrets."
"But when someone forgets about a past evil it has a tendency to happen again." Dewdrop says with a raised eyebrow and her fingers adjusting her glasses. "So we shall endeavor to remember only so that her reign isn't repeated."
"Let us seek out any further dark denizens here before reporting back to Her Majesty," the sprite declares. "Onwards."
"I'm sure Volshyenek is long dead," Dewdrop says with confidence. "Most likely a recording error. 'Never attribute to maliciousness that which can be attributed to ignorance or error.'" She considers more of Yniesse's story. "It wouldn't hurt to do a little more research into Lorthact, though. Infernal influences can be subtle and difficult to unearth."
"Those are scarlet walkers," Dewdrop explains. "They're denizens of the Plateau of Leng. It's a demiplane of nightmares within the Dreamlands." She looks back at Edric and Remy. "I may have done a little reading about them since the last time." Confident that she's clarified sufficiently, she sets about healing her companions.
Another arc of electricity flies from the fey's hands.
The sorceress repeats her spell.
"More of these things?!" Dewdrop questions in disgust before sending an arc of electricity to jump between the two of them.
"See? Child's play," Dewdrop declares with satisfaction when the trap is finally disarmed. She flutters up to take a seat on Edric's shoulder.
"Are they being intentionally obtuse?" Dewdrop questions looking over the runes that compose the trap. "With this pattern, it leaves the rune of Cas as the weakpoint. All you have to do is convert it to a Casvar with a stroke right ... here ..." When the change to the incorrectly identified rune fails to disarm the the trap, Dewdrop frowns. "I thought for sure that would break the entire thing. What if we ...?"
"Well, how about this ...?"
"No? Then I'll try ..."
"Strigoi?" Dewdrop hisses out. "I've read a little bit about them. I didn't think that there were any in this region. Obviously that author was mistaken ... or their sources were out of date." She shakes her head. "Yes, I'm going to need rest and we're going to need supplies."
The fog eventually fades from Dewdrop's mind and she nods in agreement. "We need to update Her Majesty on what's happening here if nothing else. If something happens to us, she needs to know that the Pharasmins may be compromised. She's never gotten on well with them in the first place because ... well, you know ... but this certainly won't endear them to her."
Even with the fog in her head, Dewdrop manages another spell.
Having almost run out of spells, Dewdrop's will to continue the battle is fading quickly.
Dewdrop resists the vile words and then sends a sizzling bolt of acid towards the fiend.
Dewdrop looks over the stolen documents with interest, repeatedly returning to the Thassilonian notes - first with her spectacles and then without as if it will make a difference. To no one's surprise, it doesn't. "See? Now I wish I had taken a class or two in Ancient Thassilonian," she says in frustration. "We need to find someone to translate these. I might know someone at the university that can help us." She stows the leather case and it's materials in her bag and turns to the others. "Did we miss anything?" she asks. "I mean other than the location of our lost Gray Maiden."
"More vampires?" the sprite growls. "That probably means that there's a head blood-sucker around here somewhere." She sighs. "So the question is; Is it related? Or is it just a coincidence?" She looks around for anything else of note and then scans the area for magical auras. "So do we keep going and hope to find the boss vamp? Or do we fall back, recover resources, and pass along what we've found so far to Her Majesty?"
Dewdrop - who was caught flat-footed for the entire battle - flutters forward to examine the woman's remains.
After a few more moments, the unicorn shrinks back down to the diminutive sprite. "I hope that was all of them because I'm about tapped out," she declares as she readjusts her spectacles. She gathers up the scrolls and looks over the human-sized staff. She flinches as Edric pushes open another door. "I hope you're planning on handling any more surprises yourself."
"Fine! Gang up on the fey. I see it now!" Dewdrop banters to avoid succumbing the encroaching panic.
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