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Not unless you will use her as part of a mission. I don't want to create more book-keeping if the PC won't be used.
Elsbeth took one more look at Eirik before letting him up. "You should be healthy enough for now but try not to tangle with anymore devils until tomorrow." She took a better look at those around them, "Do you guys know where our other allies are?" The cleric scans the crowd below to see if she can pick out the members of the Silver Council.
Seeing no one she recognized she began ushering people out the side door that she had come in, hoping that she'd recognize someone as they filed past her. All the while she kept Caleb's words in mind thinking that this evening may not be over yet.
Elsbeth felt relief as the dottari retreated at Tillia's words. The cleric lead the way down the stairs making sure it was safe for the masquerade guests to leave the building. Once she was certain that they could leave safely, she took one of the side doors into the ballroom to see if the other Ravens still needed help.
Elsbeth turned her attention to the last remaining dottari who wasn't in a lustful entanglement. She wanted to make sure she cleared the way for the people before leading them down the stairs. Once more, her morningstar struck true and dealt damage to the one threatening Kintargo's citizens.
Elsbeth maneuvered her weapon with deadly ferocity as she attempts to clear the stairwell. Both blows hit home and the determined look on her face gave the dottari pause as they began to doubt their survival. "You don't have to die. You can instead help these people and escape this place."
Elsbeth continued to bash the bones of the dottari blocking the citizens' exit to freedom. Her first swing crushed upwards and shattered the jawbone and the second one dislocated the shoulder.
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The bone devil's stinger barely registered with the being of force. Obediently it once again attacked the evil outsider, hopefully buying time for citizens to find another way out of the room.
Elsbeth's last thought before a wall of ice formed before her was to direct the spiritual ally to attack the bone devil. The cleric didn't have anything to melt or break the ice wall and time was of the essence. She saw that people were coming down the one stairwell but no one was coming down the other one. She ran up the stairs to see if she could help more people escape. A dottari blocked the top of the stairs but with his back to her, she was certain he wasn't expecting anyone to come up the stairs. She practically bowled him over with the force of her attack.
The spiritual ally flew directly at the bone devil with it's weapon of force intent on crushing bone.
Elsbeth knew she couldn't help Noravia from a distance with healing but at least the Spiritual Ally could interpose itself between Noravia and the devils. The cleric directed the being of force to continue bludgeoning the devils.
Elsbeth was just about to bring her morningstar down on another dottari when she heard Noravia's voice ring out. Looking up, the cleric saw Thrune had materialized and was attacking one of the Ravens. Since the dottari would be nauseated for a few rounds still, Elsbeth spoke divine words to cause a searing beam of divine light to shoot out from her palm at the evil man.
Elsbeth continued to motion people out of the door. However, she recognized that because people were streaming out, that she wouldn't be able to push her way in. Turning her attention back to the nauseated dottari, she made sure that they wouldn't be able to harm anyone ever again.
------------ The Spiritual Ally once again assaulted the bearded devil to keep it away from the monk and inquisitor.
A being that looked similar to Courage Heart, Milani's herald, coalesced behind Nox and the bearded devil. Holding Milani's favored weapon, it attacked the bearded devil.
With the immediate threat of the dottari neutralized in a puddle of vomit, Elsbeth allowed herself a glance across the room. She could tell that Noravia could use some help. Figuring she had a little bit of time to dispatch the dottari before they stopped puking, Elsbeth called on Milani to provide a spiritual ally for her fellow Raven.
Once the ally of pure force manifested near Noravia, Elsbeth kept motioning people to get through the doors and out of the Opera House.
Elsbeth could hear the screaming and knew that she needed to help. She had been concerned about remaining so close to the unmasking ceremony but it appeared that the jig was up. Thankfully they were so concerned about the party attendees that they had left her alone. She had liberated a key from one of the dottaris who would not be waking up the next morning. Making her way to the double doors of the main hall, she placed the key in the lock and took a deep breath. She called on Milani's power and spoke the divine words to cause a toxic cloud to roil within her. She then turned the key, quickly pulled open the double doors, and spewed the cloud into the faces of the surprised dottari.
"Sweet Calistria's..." Caleb choked off his oath. "Well done, that woman! Scouted AND got a master key. What do you do for an encore, kill Brassy by yourself?" Action 3: Elsbeth shook her head emphatically, her face as serious as ever. "I may be the one who delivered the key but it was a group effort. Without Aula and Hob, I wouldn't have been able to pull this off." With Caleb's last comment she added, "I would never be so reckless as to face Thrune on my own."
Action 3: Elsbeth followed Abe's example and strung the newly made key on a cord around her neck. She didn't want to let it out of her possession until she could deliver it to the Ravens. When they gathered at the Wasps Nest on Friday night, she untied the cord and handed it over to Eirik. "Milani has smiled on us. During my time scouting at the Opera House, I learned of a master key that would open almost any door there. With Hob's help, I managed to make a copy of the key everyone assumes is the only one. This will allow you to move freely throughout the building when you attend the Masquerade."
Before Hob was able to leave Elsbeth spoke up, "It should be known that Hob was the one who activated the anvil of unmaking. If he hadn't managed to do that on his own, the mission would have failed." With Rexus' comment, the cleric replied, "I could make a convincing guard I suppose. Better that than a server. But I wouldn't want to make anyone 'disappear' in order to take their place. Although people do get sick all the time."
Action 2: Elsbeth was a little taken aback at the applause in their honor. She hadn't been involved with a group mission before but surely they didn't clap for every little success, did they? Her cheeks reddened slightly at what she considered was unnecessary attention. She then stood against the wall as Eirik shared their tale.
Action 1: Elsbeth first and foremost doused her hands with some alcohol before snagging one of the pastries. Even though it was cold, it was still delicious. She also gratefully took the coffee and sipped it, letting it warm her insides. As Forvian waited expectantly, the cleric started by introducing Roshio.
After that order of business was taken care of, Elsbeth continued, "The main thing that the Silver Ravens need to know, other than the Gap being closed, is that there was a Thrune in charge at the Keep. I think his name was Lucian, maybe Lucius. Anyways, I don't know what relation he was to our Thrune or how important he was to the family but he's dead." Action 2:
Action 1: Elsbeth said bluntly, "If we wanted you dead, you would have never left the Keep. Sadly, we weren't able to save more of you. The Keep needed to fall but no one needed to die, unless their loyalties lie with Thrune to the death." She looked at Roshio with critical eyes, "Do you feel that Thrune is worth dying for?"
Action 3: Elsbeth nodded and stifled a yawn, "I think we're all in agreement that everyone needs some rest. Let them sleep as long as they need." Action 4: Maybe the man who set up the caravan could get us back into the city. The cleric stared at the ground, thinking. "Considering we have no real cargo to be able to claim being merchants and there's no record of us leaving the city, I think Rizolla is right. We need to see if we can get back in the way we got out. Eirik, do you have a way of contacting the rest of the Ravens to let them know we're in need of their help?"
Action 2: Elsbeth didn't relish the idea of trying to talk their way back into the city. "Is there another, less conspicuous way back into the Kintargo?" Turning to Brother Hawthorne she asked, "The Bellflower Network has ways of moving unnoticed in and out of the city. Maybe we could make use of one of their paths to get back in? It's not like we have enough cargo in the wagon to make our original cover story of merchants work, right?"
Action 1: Even though it was sad that they couldn't have saved more of the soldiers, Elsbeth was glad that one had made it. As they sat around and had their drink she asked, "So what will you do now? And what do we call you?" To Rizolla she shrugged. "Not everyone is prepared to be a martyr. Your actions were completely understandable. Besides, you leaving gave you the opportunity to talk to the erinyes which proved beneficial in that she left."
Action 1: That did not go at all how Elsbeth had expected. The only thing that had gone as planned was the destruction of the Keep and the closing of the gap. Everything else had been a surprise to the cleric such as Lucian's presence along with the devils, the janni, and the vigilant soldiers. As Elsbeth moved through the courtyard, she looked for any surviving soldiers that could be helped before everything collapsed. She also made sure that Eirik was always before her. If anyone needed to get back to Kintargo to report to the rest of the Ravens, it was him.
Action 2: When they were finally able to rest, Elsbeth took stock of everyone's wounds and began to heal their hurts. In doing so, she began to erase the physical evidence of what they'd experienced at the Keep.
Once she was finished, she took what water she had and asked Milani to turn it into something stronger. Once the water turned to ale, she divided it and passed it around. "I'm not sure if this deserves a toast but it definitely deserves a drink."
Elsbeth dug for her heal potion as she moved. There was no way she was stepping out into the unknown while only on her last leg. She stopped in order to uncork it and drink. With the ground heaving like it was, she didn't trust herself not to spill it otherwise.
It was only by Milani's hand that Elsbeth was still upright and on her feet. She shuddered to think of what would have happened if those tentacles had been able to keep their hold on her. Grabbing Eirik by the arm, she dragged him along with her into the closest room. "I can shape a way out for us but we need an outer wall." As she moved she also yelled as loud as she could over the rumblings, "Hob! If you can hear me, follow my voice!" Targeting the stone wall that would lead to their freedom, she prayed to Milani to make the hole large enough for even Hob should he come this way.
Things had gotten worse now that Eirik was grappled, their way was blocked, and Elsbeth wasn't sure she could take another hit. Her only option was to try and free Eirik. "If I go down, there's a potion in my bag. Use it on me if you can bring me back. Otherwise, leave me and get out of here." She then slams her morningstar into the devil's tentacle that was grappling the monk.
Elsbeth wasn't sure if she could take another hit from the devil's tentacles and contemplating withdrawing briefly to quaff one of her potions. However, when she saw Eirik pressing his attack she knew she couldn't withdraw to heal herself. He was the senior officer after all. Swinging the favored weapon of Milani, the cleric joined in bludgeoning the devil.
Now that Elsbeth was free she needed to get the devil to let go of Rizolla. Finally making use of her weapon, the cleric joined Eirik and beat the tentacle with her morningstar.
After releasing the burst of divine energy, Elsbeth called on Milani's liberation and dropped out of the devil's tentacled grasp.
Being grappled by an evil outside had Elsbeth react by instinct. Channeling Milani's divine wrath, the cleric released a destructive burst against the devil.
Elsbeth didn't recognize the kind of devil they were confronted with but the fact remained that it was still a devil. She pulled out a scroll and quickly read the words off the parchment giving the four of them more resilience against evil's influence.
After she had fortified their defenses she asked the guard who was cowering in the back, "Is that the rumored guardian devil?"
Elsbeth shook her head at Eirik's words. "You're the senior officer so you're not staying behind. You need to get back to Kintargo. You and Brother Hawthorne are also the best ones to subdue any unruly soldiers there may be without lasting wounds. If Hob needs help then I'll stay. Otherwise we need to get everyone out." The cleric mentally went through the resources she still had left to offer the group. "I don't think I'll be much help against flying archers but I can offer some protection from their evil. However, the best option is to hurry and get this finished before they return."
Elsbeth snorts, "Well there's no reason to try and save a devil so it won't matter if they actually exist and get buried under piles of rubble. I was more concerned about possible innocents being trapped."
Turning to the guard, Elsbeth asks, "Is there anyone else in the Keep?"
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