Hotaru of the Society's page

Having had no reason to believe that the others were waiting on a signal, given that the plan seemed to be 'we go, then everyone uses Amber', Sana waits an uncomfortable amount of time. Had something gone wrong on the other end? Had beheading the corpses become dismembering? Had they found an additional location to search through, a closet filled with death daemons? Had the missing hezrou shown up and brought friends? Were they searching the adept's bodies to take their probable wand and likely scroll-or-two? Maybe a secret key that - should they have continued delving in the riftwarden's keep - would have lead to something of value?

Sana always hated the 'we-have-to-go' feeling, because it always meant forgetting important things like that. Like bodies of captains that they'd need to go recover if they could... along with cultists. It was a shame that she'd overestimated her own abilities and the result had been so... catastrophic for their plans. She huffs, and idly decides to remind the others, if they weren't in mortal danger, that this group still existed and was waiting, by having the little light flutter back and forth, as if pacing impatiently. Silently. Judgingly.

Sana looks up from the book while Beatrix finishes reading through it, suddenly glancing about as she realizes Yui is planning to teleport them now. "Uh, if we want to make sure the dead don't rise as undead, we'll have to behead them. So, if we want limited knowledge to Vang, or just... not letting undead spread, we might want to do that, unless you guys know another way." she offers.

After the description of the goings-on at Nekrosof, Sana just looks confused. "I mean, it sounds like a good thing, so why do I not trust it..." she asks, but gives a small shrug, acquiescing to the teleportation, and switching Amber over to her ingress/egress effect, light shifting and shimmering in place as Sana vanishes, leaving it behind.

Stealth (Luck): 1d20 + 29 + 2 ⇒ (15) + 29 + 2 = 46

"You did not enunciate nearly enough e's or r's when you described this place. It's crrreeeepy. Eeeeeerrrrily calm." Sana whispers to Yui as they appear at her targeted location. She quickly darts to the side of the building, towards any shadows she can find to enable her allies to hide once they do arrive... or at the very least, not out in the open or in brilliant light. She didn't like how unsettled she was by something that was clearly a good sign. Maybe it was the expectation that there would be no good signs in storasta.

"I mean... we could." Sana says, not looking up from her inspection of the various objects and trinkets, "But it smells like something died in here. Then that something killed another something. And then they both died again. So... it seems like a pretty awful place to sleep unless we're dealing with active trackers. Though I guess I don't really trust anything here. Kinda feels like the vines upstairs were giving me side-eyes."

Allies within 15' of Amber: Gain Acid Resist +4 (Max 8) and +4 Acid Damage to weapon attacks, and may: Spend a move action to teleport adjacent to Sana;
Allies within 30' of Sana: Spend a point of momentum to reduce damage from a source by 7.
Enemies within 30' of Sana: None

Sana purses her lips as her foes opt to move into melee with them beneath the water where they couldn't be seen. She huffs and slips her parasol back from whence it came, before slipping to the side and drawing her starknife, hurling it towards the lacedon most capable of moving to flank Rue.

"Mmm... we have options." Sana responds. "But most aren't great. If we don't have a way to breathe underwater, we can be in awful straits if they knock us out, or worse. They're Lacedons... so like, watery grave ghouls. If Ehren can control water like he could control the wind yesterday, he could bludgeon them pretty thoroughly with that. I think the bright light bursts you guys use are also better against undead than humans, so there's that."

She pauses for a moment, "I can also shift Amber to help protect us against undead, but we'd lose the ability to teleport while I do... and the benefits would build up over time... you know, in combat."

"We might also consider the threat of what's deeper beyond them that we might alert if we're too loud. That being said... if we leave them be, they'll almost assuredly find us when we're significantly less ready."

"So... shock and awe, readying a defensive set of abilities, or trying to control their numbers in some other way?" she suggests.

"Entrance is probably cleared out as well... from the looks of it, there have been visitors. If we're careful, we can avoid disturbing them for someone better at tracking to look into." Sana responds before floating just above the pair. "A clever mage might have an alarm set back here." Sana says as she looks over the entrance, looking for any kind of magic.

Perception: 1d20 + 27 + 2 + 4 ⇒ (16) + 27 + 2 + 4 = 49 Sana detects magic as the first round effect when she spends a move action to do so.

If she doesn't detect anything, she'll fly the rest of the way in, "But these aren't clever mages."

Stealth: 1d20 + 29 + 2 + 20 ⇒ (17) + 29 + 2 + 20 = 68

"I'll take a quick look, and let you know if the entrance is mostly clear..." she sends as she begins to scope out the innards of the building from a few feet above the ground, floating ahead until the first choice needed to be made on where to go... or until she caught sight of possible enemies.

Perception: 1d20 + 27 + 2 + 4 ⇒ (17) + 27 + 2 + 4 = 50

Sana only approaches towards the entrance close enough for Rue to hear her telepathically. "They sent me to try to find a place to bring us. Turns out the kinky torture demon's nightstand necklace was a kinky torture necklace... not a secret hideaway. Yui's fine, Myrna got it off. But uh... the creepy kinky torture dungeon I was expecting us to sleep in is off the table now. Coming up on you now." Sana waits for a moment, looking at the surroundings to check for any good hidey-holes near the keep in case the interior was unsafe.

Perception (Luck, Lens): 1d20 + 27 + 2 + 4 ⇒ (10) + 27 + 2 + 4 = 43

Sana begins moving towards her allies at the entrance after doing her brief survey of the area around them.

Stealth (Luck, Invisiblity): 1d20 + 29 + 2 + 20 ⇒ (16) + 29 + 2 + 20 = 67

In case it matters, Yui will have access to this... though I doubt it will:

Allies within 30' of Sana: Spend a point of momentum to reduce damage from a source by 7.

Sana is slinking back into the shadows with the others when Yui puts the necklace on, only at the sound does Sana realize what's going on. She dives forward, trying to get her claws and Opal between Yui and the necklace, but pulls her hands back when she sees Hinagiku trying to help. She instead focuses on the necklace, trying to glean any information she can on it while trying to think of solutions. "Uh... dispel magic? Teleportation magic? Turning into mist? Turning her into a rock?" she suggests rapidly. "Squirrel!?"

Perception (Lens, Luck): 1d20 + 27 + 4 + 2 ⇒ (8) + 27 + 4 + 2 = 41 This counts as the first two rounds of detect magic... she won't be able to try to ID it until next round.

As Sana settles in, she forces herself to be stock-still, at least in soul and mind, she keeps herself retracted from controlling Unafe's body at all, trying to stay quiet at first. Each movement that Unafe makes, both conscious and unconscious sends signals to Sana that are not her own. She can't help but notice how effortlessly strong Unafe seems to be. "So strong..., Unafe hears at the back of her mind. "Shut it, Yui. Hurry, please.". The voices are both Sana's.

The sights and movements don't go on for very long, but it's still enough to remind her of another time. She braces herself within the alien feeling of someone else's body. "Like riding a carriage. Not like being possessed by a shadow demon and left with no control at all... at all."

As the spell finishes, Anna lingers for just long enough to see that the coast is clear... Unafe was faster than her in a flat-out run, so staying might save people's lives. As soon as it's clear there are no threats, she leaps out, kneeling on the ground. Her eyes are closed with hammer in both hands gripped. She pants, then forces her breath to slow, focuses on the feeling of being herself. After she steadies herself, allowing herself a brief moment, she asks the others, quietly. "Do we want to try to sneak there, or release folks here?"

Given enough time to cool off, Sana is left to wonder whether it's worse to let someone else get the last word... or to be the one who went too far, but stays quiet for a bit, nonetheless. When the consensus is reached, she finally speaks up.

"Alright... I can drop that by four with my magic, but then we have a choice. Three options: I spend the last of my magic to grab one more person instead of getting some defenses up, someone needs to be in a bag of holding... which probably shouldn't be me, since I'll be able to unload everyone much more safely if I'm out... or I'm going to need to uh... possess someone." she says, as she reaches into her belt pouch, producing a potion of protection from evil.

"This is a potion of protection from evil, in case folks don't trust me enough for that. It's... not something I like to do, and I'd honestly rather someone be in the bag, but that's less safe for them. I won't take control of your body, you'll be in total control the whole time, and it'll kinda-sorta be hell for me... but as long as we do it and immediately teleport so I can hop back out, it shouldn't be too awful." she finishes, chewing on her lip again, with her too-sharp teeth.

"That all being said, as long as we can get the bag open on the other end of the teleport, I could also just ride in the bag... cause I can definitely get out as soon as it's open. If there's space."

Sana cracks her neck slowly, and returns the stare. "I'm glad you listened to half of what I said. I made it damn well clear that I didn't know anything for certain and that it was conjecture. I never once suggested we attack her, and in fact argued against it as a possibility. I did my job, which is to assess possible threats, and shared them when I saw them. Gods, clean the horn wax out of your ears." she says with a huff.

"And actually, yes. Maybe to you, it would seem like it's impossible for one woman to be responsible for keeping an entire city down. Even if she didn't have all those tools to leverage. But I can tell you with certainty, that people with a lot less power can absolutely destroy everyone and everything around them. I've seen it. But whatever, it's your town that's at risk that you're not even willing to add anything constructive to the conversation of. Either way, I'll get to say I told you so." she says, scathingly.

A few minutes ago, she had been considering Myrna as the best person to ride along with... given the fact that she always had protection from evil, it would make her feel safer about the ride-along... if Sana could possess her, it would prove she wasn't evil, after all. But now, she didn't even want to be in the same country. This woman argued with everyone around her and her little homecoming had shattered Sana's perspective of her. This woman was no Ary, perhaps her opposite even... and she couldn't help but feel disappointed and angry in the absence of her hero amongst the Heroes. Maybe if Myrna had been the one to stand up and take charge here, Gundrun could have overcome its doom, but... for want of a horseshoe nail, and all that.

"Just let me know if you want me to absorb people and if someone's willing to let me do a ride-a-long." she says, grinding her teeth.

"A clever one." Sana says to Myrna with a smirk. "I'm using part of mine, too. Makes it easier to stay in character."

"If I had to honestly guess... she might be sewing seeds of discord against the Crusaders, picking out Kellids that are anti-Crusader to push towards working with the demons. It would explain why a home-town hero isn't celebrated by half the town upon her return. And the sentiment that you 'abandoned' them or whatever. She might even be the entire reason Gundrun hasn't moved forward in a positive way during the war. From the state of it, the bar hasn't had anyone even bother to do much more than basic repairs... then again, she might be the reason other demons haven't attempted to raze it to the ground." she pauses, tapping her lip. "Whatever she's doing, it's sewing discord, and might be keeping Gundrun untargeted. Is there a lot of anti-Crusader sentiment in town?"

"I'd also vote for heading out sooner rather than later. If we use shadow-walk again - presuming we have access, that will be quite fast. If there's a way to walk the lines, that would also be valuable. There's teleportation, but we'd be very limited on where we could go with that, based on the person using the scroll..." she pauses, and looks to Alase. "Actually, if you know of a safe place to hide, I think we have a greater scroll... and you might be able to figure the scroll out?" she suggests, not really certain of what Alase is capable of, besides (presumably) Phantom Steeds and her Eidolon.

"Well..." Sana says, before chewing her lip. "There's a Lilitu demon named Shalchenars, who just happens to be a servant of Deskari. If my information is reliable... which it isn't always going to be, given the nature of its source, Shalchenars has a penchant for targeting nobility... which makes it feel like a bit of a stretch that she'd be out here. Though, I think she'd do whatever was asked of her by her boss." she pauses, leaning back against the wall... and then leaning forward when it creaks against her weight.

"Problem is... a Lilitu isn't something we can really deal with effectively... the primary reason being that they're body snatchers that can simply jump to another body when you kill their current host. They make husks when folks die... and use them as tools to infiltrate further." she glances over to Yui, "But worse, they trap the victim in the husk... kind of like a shadow demon, but... posthumously."

She pauses once more, "To compound on that, they also have something like a Glabrezu's wish-granting ability, and a penchant for sowing their corruption far and wide... taking out entire communities rather than individuals. If Shal is a temptation demon - and I'm not saying she is - anything we do now, without an exceedingly thorough amount of preparation, would have very, very little impact. It could even play into her hands by turning the town against us." she says with a small shrug.

"But again, that's just conjecture, based on a name and a gut feeling that she doesn't belong... but I tend to trust my gut feelings on when something doesn't seem right... when there are demons capable of masquerading in every way imaginable... and then some. I will say, I wasn't able to detect any magic from her when I glanced." she rolls a shoulder.

"So, anyway, baseless accusation out there, since you asked... and not a lot we can do about it, as far as I know. Sorry if I just made your favorite bar in the city super awkward to visit."

She leans against the wall only enough to make it creak slightly, "And honestly, it just seems unlikely without further proof. I mean... a noble who's the sole survivor of a demon attack in the Worldwound isn't exactly uncommon... and it's not like it'd be easy for a normal person to leave the Worldwound. Whalt being extremely defensive of her would also just be normal in a father-daughter kind of way, if she's been around here long enough."

Sana seems content to slip into the background as the group begins to travel overland. And through-land. She simply calmly absorbs everything around her as they travel, occasionally tinkering or toying with one of her weapons absentmindedly. It felt strange to leave so many things half-finished. It was unlike her... though she had always traveled wherever her heart lead her, so it only stood to reason that it was only that she wasn't quite ready to move on from all of the things going on that made things so uncomfortable. It had been a long, long time since she had been drawn to do something real, rather than simply go where the wind blows.

She's quiet still when they're introduced to Myrna's grandmothers, she looks over them with interest at first, then allows her eyes to move about the scene, taking in their home. When the table stretches outwards, she accepts its invitation, allowing herself to stay still in the background, reaching into the sky overhead to draw out her sketchbook, while digging through her pack to get her kitty-purse, to take out her sketching kit. She flips through rapidly to a new page, and begins to work, capturing fragments of the day in memory, all sharing a single page. A vrock with comically widened eyes graces the top corner, as feathers fail to keep pace, falling towards the ground below, Crusaders and scythe left to fall with her. A small child with a floating mote, an adult hand resting on his shoulder fills the center. A tiefling woman with dark skin runs counterpoint opposite the falling Vrock, a glimmering shield appearing between her and a longsword, careful effort put into the light and shadow playing against each other.

Further down is a portrait of the druids from the cave, side by side with a comically misproportioned Unafe, holding a Vrock horizontally in the air... threatening another pair who look on with expressions of pure terror. Finally, the left side of the page slowly fills in with the scene as Sana had viewed it when they first entered this home, the two old women, the chairs, the roasting fire... she takes her time drawing in every bit of paraphernalia she can see... while the other works had been profiles or caricatures, in this case she was focused heavily on getting the scene right.

She simply works quietly, with occasional scritches between the voices as she does her work, taking in the conversation... content to simply be, at least for now.

Allies within 15' of Amber: Gain Acid Resist +8 (Max 8) and +12 Acid Damage to weapon attacks, and may: Spend a move action to teleport adjacent to Sana;
Allies within 30' of Sana: Spend a point of momentum to reduce damage from a source by 7.
Enemies within 30' of Sana: None

Sana feels a tug at her magic as Braith is attacked, and glances in time to see the golden shield appear and catch the flow, partially deflecting it before giving way to an explosion of golden motes. She smiles softly as she's reminded of Ary, then realizes... that magic had come from her. "Oh. Ohhhh." she says, suddenly grinning, her mouth splitting her face unnaturally wide. Even despite the divine wrath coursing through her, she feels butterflies in her stomach as she suddenly looks to the side, as a Vrock turns horizontal at the periphery of her vision. Problem apparently solved.

She dives off of the parapet once more, shadowy wings unfurling from her back as she moves to juxtapose herself across from Rue amidst their enemies. She hurls her gold-tinged starknife towards the nearest Vrock, as light whips at its edges once more.

Allies within 15' of Amber: Gain Acid Resist +5 (Max 8) and +5 Acid Damage to weapon attacks, and may: Spend a move action to teleport adjacent to Sana;
Allies within 30' of Sana: Spend a point of momentum to reduce damage from a source by 7.
Enemies within 30' of Sana: None

"I'm going to go make a menace out of myself, Rue!" Sana calls to the woman, smirking as she notices Rue's starknife glowing with holy power from Myrna's magic... further proof that she was free from the clutches of her abyssal origins. Amber languidly flutters towards the archdruid who was isolated from the battle, its light enabling him to move to her side across the battlefield.

She selects one Kellid who seems to be surrounded by foes to come to the aid of, before she hurls her starknife at an odd angle towards one of the babaus nearest to Rue. She dives over the edge of the wall, pulling her parasol from her quiver and twirling it around her hand by the curled lower handle.

She catches her starknife midway down and tucks it into her quiver, before catching hold of her parasol with her now-free hand, bringing it up in a vicious uppercut into a schir's chin, threatening to rip its head clean off as the holy energy carries through the tip. She channels that momentum into an additional attack with opal, bringing a left back-hand under his arm targeting his lymph node... or where one should be, giving his lymph node another generous dose of Myrna's divine rage.

"Mae gen i hud a all eich amddiffyn. Os bydd gelyn yn eich taro, gallwch ei ddefnyddio i amddiffyn eich hun." She calls out to those nearby, the language flowing smoothly, having grown up in the Sarkorian nation and traveled it for more than a decade.

Hallit: "I have magic that can protect you. If an enemy strikes you, you can use it to defend yourself."

While the others talk with the strangers, Sana digs her cat-stamped purse out of her quiver, and counts out a few coins, before placing the bag back into hiding. It wasn't enough to have gotten them out of a bad situation with just barely the clothes on their backs. She moves over to kneel in front of Aedric, before offering five platinum coins. "One last thing, you've got a very important job. Make sure everyone has a nice meal and someplace to rest when you get there. You can have your brother help you figure out how to spend the rest, however you need to. Can you do that for me?"

Diplomacy: 1d20 + 17 ⇒ (13) + 17 = 30 Takes the moneys.

After she convinces the little boy to take the money, and to take a bit of ownership over the following days - trying to sew agency back into his life, she stands back up and nods to the others, "Let's get going." she says, as dark wings unfurl from her back to carry her skyward. "I know Ehren can turn into animals and elementals, but do I need to grab Ehren too, so he can save that for later?"

Allies within 15' of Amber: Spend a move action to teleport adjacent to Sana as well as +(1) Morale v. Mind-affecting.
Allies within 30' of Sana: Spend a point of momentum to reduce damage from a source by 7.
Enemies within 30' of Sana: None

Sana nods and reaches to her parasol dangling from her back. "Alright... here goes." She flips it over in her hand with practiced ease, swinging it up overhead. Her shadow dances along its surface, curling along her body and wrapping around the seemingly ordinary object, her magic pouring into it for a moment. One by one, she reaches out to each of the civilians first, then Beatrix, Unafe, and Rue. Each becomes a two-dimensional image of themselves, as seen from Sana's perspective, before floating into her shadow and vanishing.

As a full round action, Sana spends one MP to lose her bow set and adds her Glamered Lucerne Hammer in its place, gaining Warp, Extradimensional Storage, Extradimensional Torpor, Shining Arsenal (Light) until she replaces the customization, and Plane Manipulator for 1 hour. She spends 8 rounds and 8 SP pulling each of the civilians, Beatrix, Unafe, and Rue into her Extradimensional Torpor. She adds the Weightless customization to it, allowing her to weild it as a finesse weapon.

Next goal is to go to entrance and head for the leynode. But I wanted to leave space for anything that might happen.

Sana listens along, not bothering to hide her expression of clear concern when she reaches the part of 'thousand souls'.

"I... uh... nothing so grand as that, for me." she pauses, looking a bit skeptical, and choosing her next words carefully. "You're... very open, you know that? Like, that's a lot to open with. Is there a way to free those souls? And did he name himself the Daimyo of Suffering? Because that's kind of pretentious. If others named him that, then... it sounds like the name fits?"

She opens the door and comes out of the bathroom, a very strange conversation to be had from inside one, to be certain. "So your plan is to find a strange soul-eating beast and hope he takes the offer to... stop soul-eating in exchange for not being locked in prison for eternity... or something like that? I take it you did the same to Arastrax yesterday? Otherwise you'd probably be bummed about missing your target."

Pharasman repossession bounty hunter was a hell-of-a job... and not one she'd ever heard of. "I... guess the simplest and quickest version, since I'm not altogether certain of what I'm doing here... is that I took the Test of the Starstone, and now I have a list of goals that I think it wants me to accomplish. Amaznen wasn't exactly open with his long-term goals with me. But... finding Vang here and finishing him was one of the long lists of things I need to do." she pauses for a moment, then tilts her head. "You know, actually... I think our goals might align somewhat. I've got a sort of celestial hit-list to go with your soul-eater list."

She begins to count up on one hand, "If I'm right... Amaznen wants me to take out Xanthir Vang and stop his plot to assassinate the leaders of the Crusades." she ticks one, "Shaorhaz the Glutton of the Green in Greengrave, she ticks two, "Baphomet himself, she ticks three, and is interrupted by a giggle from her gauntlet and a girlish "That tickles." causing her to smirk, and tick a fourth finger. "The Wound in the world itself, by taking down Iz... and finally Deskari." she says, holding up a thumb. "And... I think maybe your uh... 'Kurushima' is the key to making sure none of these guys... commit more crimes? Assuming you wanted to stick around."

"Though, with Xanthir having escaped... it might be the case that stopping him from offing Galifrey wasn't the most important thing to stop him from doing. So... stopping him getting this Paradox book seems kind of high priority, now." she says, biting a scarred lip with too-sharp teeth. "Though it's also possible that I have the much less heroic goal of freeing Ary - that's the former leader of the warpath through the 'Wound - so that she can do it... but that feels lacking in agency as my own person. Like, don't get me wrong, I totally want to go to Rahadoum to bust her out... but that's a combination of out-of-my-wheelhouse to do alone... and much less of a time-crunch than all of this other stuff. And honestly, I think she's still getting a lot done from Prison. But... that's neither here nor there."

She pauses at the mention of a hat of disguise, reaching up to untie her hair ribbon, and as her hair cascades down, she shrinks about four inches and her features hollow out, her bones seeming to rise under her skin - though her makeup covers much of the transformation back from human-with-tiefling features to full-on tiefling.

Sana's disguise dips to 37 to appear as a tiefling rather than a half-demon without the hat.

"Hm... are Grumtarr's hills on the outskirts of Drezen outside of the Sword's range? I've been there a few times throughout the years, so I should be able to picture that area fairly well." Sana suggests. "Though that would be a pretty long way to drag the spiders... given their size."

She looks over the room with a small huff. A huge amount of effort had gone in to making the place hospitable... if Yui's idea to transform this into a camp for the Crusaders didn't pan out, it would be a terrible shame to leave behind a self-cleaning bathroom... she briefly envisions Unafe uprooting various pieces of the room and shoving it into her dreamspace, before casting the thought aside. Though she did really want to keep the sink and latrine if nothing else... ugh. It would be the greatest of boons to the Crusades if it were left intact.

"Uh... sure. On the retrievers thing. My teleportation should be big enough to get them through... but we'll be kind of pressed for time." she replies as she checks the edges of the mirror. "Do we have a way to let Nerosyan or Drezen know we're going to be pushing giant spider abominations through a gaping hole in the fabric of the universe... before we start doing so? Oh... and to have some food ready? I'm sure the folks we found are hungrier than I am... and I'm pretty hungry."

"What exactly do you mean by 'within my authority' and 'bound to Pharasma's service'?" she asks, peeking out the door.

Allies within 15' of Amber: Gain Illumination (7) to CL, ML, and Skill checks. Spend a swift to gain Illumination (7) Temporary Hit Points.
Allies within 30' of Sana: Spend a point of momentum to reduce damage from a source by 7.
Enemies within 30' of Sana: Totem of Expulsion: CL v. Outsider SR or Sickened and reduce DR, SR, and Energy Resistance by 11.

Sana's head tilts slightly as Myrna begins to bang her drums, blinking one long blink before her eyes focus on her target, the rage taking hold.

Unafe had offered to help to send them home, and yet the immediate response was to send its ally out to attack them. No greeting, no averted eyes to avoid their gaze attack. No... sending them home was only ever going to go one way. It was a terrible waste... with their abilities, being locked in a tiny room to guard whatever it was that the Templars had deemed of great value, she almost felt sorry for them. Her hand tightens on her starknife as she calls upon Myrna's celestial-infused wrath, hurling her starknife towards the boatman in an assault fueled by spite.

As Sana hears more stirrings from the barracks, she decides to stop organizing and going through things for a bit - long enough to inform Yui of what's been found and where... and what she wasn't able to identify. She flips open the box she'd left beside her bed to show it to Yui, revealing the biscuits and arrow, which she hadn't had a chance to look at previously... and hadn't known she could identify until she was in another room looking over magic items.

Spellcrafts are 30 each, which ID's up to CL 15!
K(Arcana) v. Biscotti (Crit): 1d20 + 9 + 10 ⇒ (20) + 9 + 10 = 39
K(Arcana) v. Arrow: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (17) + 9 = 26

She stretches once more, wondering what else had changed... focusing on her magic and drawing upon it to see what else she was capable of. After having tapped into her light magic... she opts to see if she could reach further with what she was capable of with Opal... and molds the magic into something new to her. Something she had familiarity with, from time spent with Ary.

Sana spends her second SP of the day to create a momentum pool for 10 hours. It has 17 points, which may be spent by an ally within 30 feet of her when that ally takes damage to reduce that damage by 7.

"My magic is behaving differently..." Sana shares. "Normally, I rely on my weapons to mimic it, but something has changed... and I'm not quite sure what. Before we engage the Thanadaemons... or approach them... I'd like to cast an aura to help us fight them if they try to fight us. But otherwise, sure... I'm ready. Are we going to search the rest of the building first, or send the Thanas home first?"

Sana intends to cast a totem at the entrance of the coat room, though unbeknownst to her, it'll be cast as an aura on herself when she does - that'll cost my third and fourth SP of the day. She's learnin!

When Sana finally awakens, it's to the sound of the fields of heaven musically swaying in the breeze... the soothing sound suddenly by a particularly boisterous Saurkorian. She rolls over and pulls her comforter tighter, eager to return to sleep, before she recalls where she is. Definitely not heaven. She winces as she sits up in bed, looking around.

Yesterday had been... awful. Her features soften once more as she looks to the civilians and Crusaders. Remembering herself, she pulls out her kitten stamped messenger bag from her quiver's main pocket, and sets to work on fixing her makeup. Maintaining her tiefling look was important to her... half-human half-fiend carried baggage, after all.

As she works on her makeup, she enters her typical meditative state... but the question of what Ary would have done differently lingers.

For starters, Ary would have certainly been significantly stronger, and her presence near her allies would have bolstered them against a seemingly endless number of threats. She'd have busted in the front door instead of lingering with the enemy until allies showed up as well. She'd have trusted her allies if she had information.

But most importantly, Ary would have acknowledged Sana's strengths in a way that she hadn't the day prior. In trying to simply bolster her allies... she'd left out keeping them alive. Something Ary would not have overlooked, and something Sana planned to rectify in the future.

After her morning ritual of preparing herself for the day, she notices a different feeling stirring within her than the normal anxiety. The same feeling she felt when she borrowed the abilities of her allies in her mimicry. Perhaps the magic of the night before had lingered, as she could still feel the light magic she'd imbued the bow with, in a way that Amber didn't normally grant.

It was strange to have lost faith so many years ago in Heaven itself... and to have found it in the abyss. "And I will have faith in them.." she says, finally, as she puts her makeup kit away, and then her bag follows. "We're awake, Rue." she sends to the succubus.

She focuses for a moment to enable herself to be ready for the day, before finally responding to Myrna.

Sana recovers both martial focuses and her mental focus.
K(Planes) v. Splashy (Grazed): 1d20 + 18 - 1 ⇒ (4) + 18 - 1 = 21 Forgot to roll this after I stopped cowering, so keeping the grazed.

"There are a lot of valuables still here, mostly in the form of information. We know of two threats on the northeastern end of the building. There are a few locations we haven't been to yet, as well. I might be able to recover some of the information in the map room, though I'm not certain. Still worth a try. There's a pretty large library both of scrolls and otherwise in the southern portions. The two thanadaemon that Unafe offered to send home and the water elemental with them. We need to handle the dead in a proper way... and maybe we can bring the Captain back to life." she pauses for a moment once more.

"Turning this into a forward base would be possible... but prohibitively expensive." she nods, "But... on the topic of Vang. I don't know if it was a bluff, but Yui told Vang she could find him with his worms from his room. I think gathering everything we can here, and then taking these folks home is our first step, though."

Sana does a quick sweep of the room, making sure that nothing seems overly amiss. If the super-secret room she wasn't allowed near was just the coat room, and they were hoping to keep people from identifying them outside... that would be somewhat disappointing. But far better than other possible outcomes. There had been that time with the door and the archdruid, after all.

perception (Grazed, Mythic): 1d20 + 26 - 1 + 4 ⇒ (9) + 26 - 1 + 4 = 38

If nothing seems amiss, she'd relay to Rue what they'd discovered - a closet, likely allowing them to identify the dead and maybe flush out more of the Templar's plans... and likely having its own cache of valuables to root through.

Her next goal was to check each of the side rooms in the room where Unafe had redecorated the most - by dismantling the statue. She suspected there would at least be valuables in the area they'd disrupted the ritual, but she was still more worried about possible threats, than possible gains, at least for now.

Amber's previous location is marked in pink text. Allies within 15 feet gain 8 acid resist and their attacks gain 11 acid damage, and they gain +7 to Caster Level/Manifester Level/ Skill Checks. Sana gains one Illumination (total 31). She is currently grazed (83/126). Sana 5-foot steps, spends a move action to Refocus Unafe, and spends a standard action to fill Vang's square with cold damage again.

Spell Pen v. Vang (CL 8, Amber): 1d20 + 8 + 7 ⇒ (16) + 8 + 7 = 31
Frost Damage: 4d6 ⇒ (6, 1, 3, 2) = 12 DC 21 Reflex halves damage to 6. If fails reflex, DC 21 Fort Save v. Staggered.

As Yui falls, tears break past the rims of Sana's eyes, obscured by her helmet. This wasn't the way things were supposed to go. If she'd been more prepared... if she'd recognized that Markus no longer traveled with them, she'd have brought healing magic to bear. This was her fault...

Her shadow twists tighter around her face as she lets the dark thoughts crash inwards. She focuses that darkness into her bow, coiling the freezing thoughts into another arrow, bringing the bow up to aim at Vang once more.

"Don't give up, Unafe." Sana calls to the Saurian as she launches her anger and frustration towards the worm-that-walks.

Sana switches the effects of Amber as a swift action. Amber's previous location is marked in pink text. Allies within 15 feet gain 8 acid resist and their attacks gain 11 acid damage, and they gain +7 to Caster Level/Manifester Level/ Skill Checks. They may spend a swift action to gain 11 temporary hit points.Sana gains one Illumination (total 30). She is currently grazed (83/126). Sana 5 foot steps and closes the door behind her. She spends 0 SP to fill a 5 foot square with a cold destructive blast (Vang's).

Spell Pen v. Vang (CL 8): 1d20 + 8 + 7 ⇒ (8) + 8 + 7 = 23
Cold Damage: 4d6 ⇒ (2, 6, 3, 5) = 16 Reflex Save DC 21 for half (8 damage). If he fails, Fortitude Save DC 21 vs. Staggered.

Bluff (Grazed, Amber): 1d20 + 13 - 1 + 7 ⇒ (9) + 13 - 1 + 7 = 28 Just lyin'.

Another body falls, bringing Sana to look over her shoulder once more. This time, the Archdruid. Leather creaks against her grip on her bow. She had to draw some attention to herself... 'Minus one..?'

"Going to try to keep his attention on me... and shift Amber's light to be more aggressive." she communicates to Rue, as the light flickers for a moment.

"Sorry, wrong room." Sana says cheekily as she takes a step back and closes the door behind her. She turns towards Vang and pulls her bow to full draw with another frost arrow. She cracks her neck once more, and launches the arrow - lacking much of the power she'd had before, but the detonation fills his surroundings with cold nonetheless.

"Great job, Vang! Leading the heroes to your Hail Mary. Crying about how the end of everything is all that matters and is inevitable, but still running away like a coward. Speaking of nihilism... which demon lord do you think sent me? And if you don't perish here, who will be sent next? Do you think they may already be here?"

'If we survive this... we're going to have to learn to focus a bit more...' she chastises herself.

Will: 1d20 + 15 ⇒ (10) + 15 = 25 95/126 HP! Sana, thanks to First-Yui reminding her she's a half-demon, is immune to poison!

Sana begins to respond to Vang... but then just rolls her eyes. The guy's reborn as a mound of worms, and thinks it's divine providence, that he was meant for greatness. Divine providence would have surely been something way cuter, like squirrels. Something with taste buds. Oh well.

Sana gains one point of illumination (19), she has 7 rounds of haste remaining. Allies within 15 feet of Amber may spend a swift action to gain 11 temporary HP, and a move action to teleport adjacent to her. They also gain 8 acid resistance.

"A couple thousand is hardly a few." Sana calls up to the woman engaged with the locusts, and catches Captain Velnova passing away out of the corner of her eye. She grimaces. 'Plus-two to plus-one.'

Sana instinctively pulls away from the shadow demon's touch, her breath catching even as darkness swirls around her from Vang's spell. 'No. No. Nonono...' She feels her inner darkness reach out and grab hold of the shadow-demon's spell, twisting and wrenching it until it breaks, even as Yui does the same to Vang's spell. 'Never again.'

Her grip on her starknife tightens as she growls at Arastrax in a hollow voice, barely above a whisper. "No vacancy."

Sana's shadow lengthens and runs down her arm to grip her starknife, darting along the glimmering blade. She crosses the distance between herself and the shadow deemon as she pours light magic into her starknife - specifically, the light of the moon. She drives her blade to the hilt in Arastrax's shadowstuff, pouring the light into him even as her animate shadow follows the blade.

"Get it together, Medici!" Sana calls back behind her. "I know there's a lot going on, but that is not the way that anyone wants to die."

Beatrix CL v. Sana SR: 1d20 + 9 + 2 ⇒ (13) + 9 + 2 = 24 Whomp :(
Maneuver Gained: 1d3 ⇒ 2
Sana gains access to fluctuation movement. Illumination 1. Add 1 acid damage to allied attacks within 15' of Amber, Move action to teleport adjacent to Anna. Swift action to become incorporeal, 6 rounds of haste and 5 rounds of incorporeal remaining. She double-moves while flying with stealth.
Stealth: 1d20 + 27 + 3 - 3 ⇒ (10) + 27 + 3 - 3 = 37
Perception: 1d20 + 26 + 3 ⇒ (14) + 26 + 3 = 43

Sana feels the ripples of Beatrix's magic flickering along her form, but then feels something inside of her reach out and attempt to snuff the magic. "Nammit, Yui. This is why we can't have nice things." she thinks, chastising her inner shadow demon for attempting to break the magic before it could touch her. Ultimately the spell settles on and throughout her form. A lot of it overlapped with her inherent speed... but some would be quite effective if she could leverage it.

She once more sinks into the floor and heads towards the torture room, peeking her head up in the prison. If the coast appears clear, she'll finish ascending into the room. It would be best if she entered the room from the south... that was likely her best chance at buying the time necessary to get the child out without the torturer being near enough to prevent his egress...

Sana will leave Amber within 15 feet of all of the prisoners as she heads back to the group. Her fly speed is 110' and her path appears to be 205'. She'll double move 105' with a -3 to stealth due to mythic. She spends a swift action for incorporeal, leaving her with 6 rounds. 3 Rounds of haste remain.

CL v. the Wound Itself: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (12) + 8 = 20
Diplomacy (Hope): 1d20 + 12 + 3 ⇒ (18) + 12 + 3 = 33
Stealth (Fast, Hope): 1d20 + 27 - 3 + 3 ⇒ (10) + 27 - 3 + 3 = 37

"The Archdruid and Hinagiku, yeah." Sana whispers back to the Minkaian woman, but immediately has her attention shifted back to the task at hand by the probable Crusader.

"I don't really have time to talk about trust. Don't trust demons and don't have faith in them, or their followers. Don't make wishes and all that. But hope is something a demon can't give you. Or take from you. That's yours. "They can't take your light." she says quietly, as she twirls in place and falls into the floor once more, leaving her mote within reach of all of them.

'So cool.' she thinks to herself, before swimming through the not-stone back towards her companions.

She waits until she's about halfway back to begin informing Rue of what's going on. "Four Prisoners not in danger. Fifth is. I'm uncertain of how many are coming. Minotaur fiend guarding entrance, no other enemies sighted. Will need space. Will try to get the fifth out using the absent prisoners as a distraction... if there's time. Surely there's time."

Opal uses her Create food and Water spell (Berries only) to add food to the cells. She 5-foot steps to a more central location. Sana uses a swift action to summon Amber to her side. She uses her own standard action to cast Goodberry via Opal's SLA list on her handful of berries. 4 rounds of haste remain.

Diplomacy: 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (15) + 12 = 27
Good Berries: 2d4 ⇒ (2, 3) = 5

"It's me again." Sana whispers to them as she enters. "No time for lock picks right now for using the door. Opal..?" she says, causing her opalescent gauntlet to ripple in color for a moment, as Sana clenches her fist. "Some of the Heroes of Kenabres are here, they've managed to take out the southwestern most flank, and we've bought a bit of time." her head twists to the side at the sound of one of the screams, a pained look on her face, even as Opal finishes her spell, adding blueberries within easy reach of all of the prisoners - just enough for a meal each, there couldn't be any clear evidence.

"Be careful of the ones that don't look safe." she reminds them as she opens her hand to reveal a handful of berries of her own, which she begins to pick through for the edible ones.

She pauses for a moment in thought. It wasn't what she'd suggested, exactly. She'd been worried that maybe their attack would have prompted them to kill the prisoners, and maybe she'd show up and save those she could. There being four unhealthy people with a single individual's life in danger was... different. Ary would have destroyed herself to keep these people safe, busted down the door into the next room, and freed them as well. Assuming there wasn't anyone smarter to tell her how to do it better. But what would the others do? How would they do it better?

She wasn't Ary. She couldn't just fight everything in here. And she didn't have the others at her back just now. Fighting wasn't an option.

She did, however, learn guile from Li'an, Val, and Auntie Anevia... and sometimes trickery was better. She'd need time to work it all out - time that the tortured might not have. But as her mother always said... count the living.

"If you want out, give me about fifteen seconds after I leave and will yourself towards the mote's light." she whispers. "I'll take you somewhere... safer. Not quite safe yet, though." she adds hastily. "But not too soon. If you try it too soon, you'll wind up stranded somewhere in the Temple. If you can't trust me, I'll still try to come back for you later."

'After that, I can hurry back in here... tell those in the next room that the Blackfyres have stolen the prisoners and are holding out on the goods they're making... and that Vang appears to be blaming Lile for the attack on his Spiders... maybe they'll be dumb enough to tell the two to their face. If there's time. If they aren't a Blackfyre... hm, what to say to a Blackfyre...'

K(Planes) v. Grillixbee: 1d20 + 18 ⇒ (17) + 18 = 35

"Welcome, heroes." Sana whispers into the message spell, "To the true ivory sanctum." She tears the little drawing she'd made out of her book and allows it to flutter down to her companions. "We've moved about 150 feet deeper in. We bypassed the Templar and Blackfyre locations, as well as Arastrax and Vhang. I have a few plans to sow discord while you guys catch your breath if you want me to try them. If I can find a demon with telepathy out on its own, I could try to get it to tell Vhang that the heroes knew his retrievers were here, and said they'd have to thank Lylevyrrin before they teleported away. If any of you have a way to destroy a statue, I could try to magic my way into that. There are some prisoners I could try to get out..."

"Of course, the more destructive and chaotic ideas I have should be saved for after the building stops panicking... if they do."

She pauses for a moment, "Sorry, I've been locked in here with a bunch of Templars for days, 'training', reading puzzle books where the answer is 'just be strong enough to not do the stupid book', and trying to figure out how to fix sooooo many problems. So they're all coming out at once. But seriously, how damaging would flesh-to-stone be if I turned a significant portion of an altar's center torso into bologna?"

As Sana arrives the return of the others, she flips her cloak to the side, so that she can reach for her handy haversack, a dark leather thing, that had the silhouettes of cats stamped into it in various locations - and absolutely covered in pockets. She darts her hand into one such pocket and pulls out a tiny book and a charcoal, before quickly creating a rough sketch. It certainly wasn't her best work, but it would be fast. By the time the others would arrive, she'd be sitting in a lotus position, sketching in her booklet.

Craft(Sketching): 1d20 + 16 ⇒ (13) + 16 = 29

With all of the foes destroyed in various bits and bobs and smears across the floor, Sana looks to the other heroes. "Hiding is always an option," she whispers with a wink before turning on her heels and diving backwards as shadowy wings erupt from her back. She sinks headfirst into the ground, where she disappears without a ripple.

Swift: Spend a round of incorporeal (9 remaining). While incorporeal, she moves silently.
Double-move: Travel North to the hidey hole. Sana can fly up to 220 feet in this way.
Sana's illumination will disappear 1 minute after combat ends, turning off her lantern and votive effects until combat begins once more.

Anna awaits the heroes reply before responding, her voice dripping with condescension. "Vhang, Vhang, Vhang..." She tosses her starknife to the ground, bouncing it back up into her waiting hand like a girl playing jacks. "We knew that you were a traitor, but parleying with the Crusaders mid-raid on one of our temples and promising to share our secrets? I daresay that you've made it clear that you're more of an enemy to the Templars than the Crusaders. Even after all the hospitality we've shown you, you still had the audacity to have your Blackfyres teleport our compatriots into their greedy maw. I assure you that Jerribeth will hear about this." Anna says, maintaining an air that she believes may have been just as haughty as Vhang's.

"But for now, Crusaders. I propose a counter-offer. I aid you in killing these monstrosities in exchange for my life." She holds the weapon over her shoulder for a moment, then looks to Unafe. "As a continued show of good faith..." she says, slipping sideways and allowing her arm to uncoil like a snake as the saurian woman hurtles past her. She hurls the weapon directly at the spider that had a few of its eyes focused on Rue as she hears the audible crunching noises from behind her. She doesn't bother to look, knowing the creature is in good hands.

Maneuver gained: 1d3 ⇒ 2 Templar 2 gains access to Carnival Swap

Turning sideways and letting the blast scorch her leathers and doing her best not to let it show that it was more than her armor that was scorched, nothing too difficult as her entire form was a blur. The lanky Templar's face remains hidden behind her mask, a fluttering yellow ribbon holding up her brown hair in a ponytail which trails away in the wake of the blast. She huffs, clearly annoyed by the strange woman across the room's 'perfectly reasonable' suggestion.

"Fsking Blackfyres," Templar 2 bellows in a deep, resonant voice, practically growling the word Blackfyre. "Couldn't even land us outside of the evocations, am I right?" she says, looking to the Blackfyre sharply as she recognizes that the people that line was meant for were no longer standing. "Wait. Was that on purpose? Were you ordered to do that?" she says, taking a step back from the Glabrezu.

She leans away from the cultist as a golden starknife falls from its sheathe into her practiced hand. The weapon dances on her fingers for a moment before she catches it and hurls it towards the dinosaur woman. "Left!" she yells at the Glabrezu from behind... while aiming the weapon directly at its left side. "Other left, you dolt!" A golden mote flies from her necklace and across the room, to rest near Myrna's midsection, floating gently upon an invisible breeze and casting glittering light amongst the heroes. The Starknife cuts a vicious swath back through the air to rest in her waiting hand.

Standard: Deadly Shot: 3d10 from Snipe, 3d6 from Fatal Thrust (Enemy denied its dex). If the attack hits, she entangles the Glabrezu (which can be removed as a standard action) and Faerie Fires it for 8 minutes.
Move: None.
Swift: Activate Time Skitter (Haste for 7 rounds)
Free: 5-foot step southeast. She has See Invisibility and Blur Active. She gains 2 Illumination for a total of 2. She sends Amber 50 feet west to float in the top-right square of Myrna. Heroes within 15 feet of the golden mote (Amber) have acid resist 2, they may 5-foot step as a swift action, are immune to death effects and gain a +2 bonus against undead-originating magical effects (Psionic, Spell-like, supernatural, spells). Amber currently casts light in a 10 foot radius. She takes 17 damage from Ehren's Sacred Flame.

Will v. Yui: 1d20 + 15 ⇒ (3) + 15 = 18
Bluff (Whoops, didn't mean to): 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (10) + 13 = 23
Rainbow Sparkle v. Glabrezu (Haste): 1d20 + 19 + 1 ⇒ (20) + 19 + 1 = 40
Confirm: 1d20 + 19 + 1 ⇒ (16) + 19 + 1 = 36
Damage (Snipe, Fence, Agile): 1d4 + 3 + 8 + 3d10 + 3d6 ⇒ (2) + 3 + 8 + (8, 2, 2) + (3, 6, 4) = 38
Faerie Fire v. SR: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (19) + 8 = 27

Disable Device (Grazed): 1d20 + 23 - 1 ⇒ (18) + 23 - 1 = 40
"Of course. I'm on it." Sana responds to Hinagiku as she asks if she can help the others get out with her light. Amber swiftly intervenes between her and the two women now holding the ceiling aloft. "Keep in mind, if there's no space beside me, there's no teleporting, so bigger might not be better."

She shifts her attention to the door as she twists the knob and it immediately catches. Of course. Ehren, quickly aware of the danger gets a bit of her attention as he asks for reassurance on the matter.

"Unless it's an arcane lock or something else... I was picking tavern locks when I was twelve. Literally child's play." Sana says as she flexes the gauntlet that isn't Opal, and several tools pop out with minor movements of her fingertips. She wastes no time dipping low to begin working on the lock... and on informing their upstairs ally.

"Just in case I can't get this popped open, Fen'wen, gonna need you to get me out if you can. Others can use Amber and I's connection. Ceiling's coming down, door locked itself. Imp is framing himself as a victim, go fig. He wants us to 'wish him free' with an artifact he promises corrupts wishes. He also suggested destroying it..."

Click. "Nevermind, got it. Others think the covetous flame is a candle. Claims Nordvick was providing souls for fueling the Covetous Flame... but again, straight from the fiend's mouth."

Amber's light begins to shift, the light becoming conspicuously easier to look directly at even as Sana's shadow grows deeper.

Full round action to get the door, free to move Amber to allies, swift to switch Amber to Teleport as a Move Action, leaving the other effect as a bonus against mind-affecting.

Sana says her goodbyes to those in the restroom before heading back down with Hinagiku. "I have a sharp lot-of-things." Sana offers to Hinagiku, giving her a pointed smile as the Kitsune passes.

"I think it's safe to say that it was a haunt." Sana responds, equally quiet. "Was there anything else that stood out to you about the situation?"

Once they reach the bottom of the stairs, Sana cranes her neck, resulting in a series of pops, before stretching her back muscles, lifting one arm high over her head, gripping it with her other hand, not having much to say at the moment, maintaining a look of boredom, only focusing when she looks to the imp.

Scout v. Imp: 1d20 + 24 - 5 - 1 ⇒ (13) + 24 - 5 - 1 = 31 Scouting reveals weaknesses or lack thereof (DR/Resist/Weaknesses, etc.) and in Sana's case BAB and Combat Spheres known.
Sense Motive: 1d20 + 19 - 1 ⇒ (19) + 19 - 1 = 37

"Should be easy enough to decompose it with magic." Sana says as she enters the room, looking between the three. "Probably be left with a skeleton, so it's far from perfect. Maybe there's a better choice than just skipping it ahead." She reaches a gauntlet with pointed fingertips out to the woman in overalls. "My friends call me Anna, and you are?"

As she hears that the imp has returned, she whispers back, "Oh thank gods. I was not looking forward to the keening noises that were undoubtedly going to begin upon speaking to Annavinia on the matter."

Sana winces as the noble reveals her entitlements with the sound that only they could make with such proficiency: A keening screeching noise that lingers within the mind and makes one question whether they have developed hearing loss, or if the ringing is simply in the head. Regardless, mission complete.

There was a lot to unpack. A lot of reading between the lines told a lot more than the woman probably intended to reveal. Which... was sort of the point of the way Sana had lead the conversation. "Alright, I'll go let them know right now." Sana says, pushing herself away and towards the hallway the others had gone down. She slips easily through the Crusaders and after a few feet she begins to whisper into the message spell.

"Got Narikopolus to talk about herself, then steered her towards more useful pursuits. Then got her angry, resulted in a lot of information, though. The imp belonged to a guy named Linnaeus who was exiled - and she is quite certain - before he came to this neck of the woods. She claims not to know why he was exiled, but assures me that they don't exile many people in her neck of the Chelish noble tree. She presently has no control over the imp and can't summon it, it comes to her when it feels like it. She's been bargaining with it to get more information, though doing so carefully. So I'm guessing she's a few months out from only selling her soul for the information. She was quite clear that Linnaeus was exiled, was no longer part of the family, and records were stricken regarding him. At least until she unearthed some. Which means her claim to this place - which she admits didn't belong to him prior to being exiled - and the imp are tangential at best."

More interestingly, Arakhan is basically their house's recent claim to fame. He inherited the city from the inheritor, after having spent years adventuring and making connections. Supposedly a catfolk diviner provided him with information that he used against the Faceless Ones. Anyway, do you guys need me down there, or should I go back to fluffing the noble?"

"Will do!" Sana says to Hinagiku as she moves out of the room, offering a thumbs up. "Scream if you need anything."

She leaves the bobbing lantern with the group once more as she returns to the tavern main room. She tilts her head back and forth considering whether the fairy would be enough to protect the room or not and decides that it probably wouldn't be... but it was the option they had.

Seeing everything still well-in-hand with the Crusaders, she heads over to the prisoners... plus Narikopolis. She gives the gnome a little wave before attempting to let herself through to the prisoners. "Taking a break after the almost getting eaten and drowned."

"So... Miss Annavinia. You're related to the Chelish nobility that the Inheritor helped out, yeah? With the faceless monsters, where she took care of the people for a year and a day?" she asks, starting with some small talk, and enabling the woman, like her previous mark, to talk about herself for a bit. If she wanted to.

Diplomacy (My face): 1d20 - 1 + 12 ⇒ (16) - 1 + 12 = 27 Trying to make a friend.

Okay, mistakes were made. Getting the snakes attention on herself was not the play... sort of. On the bright side, constrictors tended not to be venomous... though with it being the Worldwound, who knows. On the other hand, most snakes as a whole couldn't react to their prey becoming completely insubstantial.

"Buy... me... dinner... first." Sana forces through gritted teeth as the snake attempts to squeeze the life out of her. She expects to be able to simply fade out of its grip... but rapidly finds that she can't. A look of confusion crosses her face for a brief moment, but in her attempt to recover, she calls Amber towards her, following the path she had taken earlier. The little ball of light wastes no time flitting across the bar and through the hallway. The light that the orb gives off shifts subtly, the light beginning to feel more substantial, while the shadows it cast began to ripple like waves along the surface of her allies.

She twists her starknife into a tight grip and begins jamming it against the serpent's scaly hide, over and over, the rippling shadow sizzling as it made contact. She was fairly certain that most things died when stabbed between the ribs repeatedly, and this one had plenty of those.

Sana is at 65 HP, she gains 1 illumination (9) and 1 animus (7). She moves Amber as a free action, and changes the effects to +9 acid damage to attacks and +6 deflection to AC for allies within 15 feet as a swift action (-2 wounded, +4 deflection, for a total of +2 AC for Sana). She spends a full round action attacking with Haste. 2 Rounds of Haste remain.

Since it isn't a spell, Sana will instead use Obsidian Sidestep as an immediate action, taking 10 on the Craft check, for a total save of 27.

White-hot rage permeates Sana as the compulsion washes over her, immediately causing her to assume that there was another ghost trying to take possession of her. Only as her mind twinges towards the other water source does she realize what is going on. Everything slows down for a moment into a perfect snapshot with crystal clarity. She swishes her hand in the air, leaving behind an after-image of a stylized celestial rune: شرف The rune sublimes from solid shadow into wispy smoke, before disappearing entirely, taking the compulsion with it. A trick she had stolen from her own Li'an's repertoire - if only a ghost of what her runes were capable of.

It is only the presence of Hinagiku's arrival when her mind refocuses on what is, rather than what was, that helps her truly find her center... which is sent careening when a thousand screeching half-birds appears in the room with them, with their clan-liege standing along with them. As Hinagiku moves to help Fenton, she exhales a sigh of relief, only then realizing she'd been holding her breath since the water had demanded she drown herself.

"It's a haunt." she says to the others, "Break the water bearing objects and it should go away permanently. Those adamantine blocks on your fists should do a number on them... but they'll be more sturdy than normal." the woman says as she shifts her attention to the snake. "I'm immune to most poisons, so on the off chance this one is poisonous, I should keep its attention." she briefly considers conjuring a decapitated snake to grab hold of this one and show it its future, but recognizes that with no idea of what size it was, her snake might be utterly incapable of holding it at all... and instead goes with the Butterfly Special, chaotic cascades of color ripping through the air - and possibly the snake along with it - as she steps up to the bath. The word brobdingnagian comes to mind as the weapon bites into flesh.

Sana's previous round's action would be accomplished by Hinagiku's current one, so I'll just take the current turn. Sana gains 2 Animus and Illumination in the previous round due to activating her maneuver and gains her final maneuver (carnival swap). She five-foot steps and full attacks, each successful attack adds 7 minutes of faerie fire to the snake. Because she isn't throwing, she doesn't entangle it. She gains 1 animus (6) and 1 illumination (8) this round. She scouts it (DC 29 v. Identification) as a swift action (info on BAB, Weaknesses, Resistances, any Spheres of Might). 3 Rounds of haste remain.

As Sana heads down the stairs back to the first floor, her mind dances with the various ways that she could broach the topic of Nordvick being a murderer without outright saying it... and of ways to ask for information with implications rather than being direct, given all of the sensitive issues currently ongoing. For example, being in a room full of Crusaders.

Such euphemisms as the inn having old bones, if Nordvick knew of any skeletons in any closets, if perhaps there were any secrets buried in the cellar, among other coy and easily interpreted musings - should someone know what was going on. So when she reaches the foot of the stairs, she immediately locates him and heads over, her head tilts just slightly as she looks him up and down, chewing on her lip before giving him a smile. That's when she hears Myrna begin stating - quite loudly - what evidence they had gathered. She steps to the side a little more than she already was to provide access to the tavernkeeper, and listens to the woman's speech. Her eyebrows raise in some mixture of skepticism, disbelief, and acceptance as Riversoar pulls a Bishop.

"Gods... what is it with Crusaders and being so... blunt and forthright... really kills the mood sometimes." Anna mutters as she watches the woman. "Oh, and here she comes..." she says, as she brooks still more access, stepping backwards out of the way. She winces as the hammer falls where a scalpel was needed once more. And wrapped in silk though they may be, the Crusades did have a lot of hammers. She turns her full attention back to Nordvick in time to read his response.

Perception: 1d20 + 24 - 5 ⇒ (17) + 24 - 5 = 36
Sense Motive (Confidence): 1d20 + 17 + 1d8 ⇒ (7) + 17 + (6) = 30

Sana scouts Nordvick, which reveals defensive information such as weaknesses, damage reduction, resistances, and in her case also reveals BAB and any combat spheres he may possess. She likewise uses Sense Motive on him, and uses a point of Confidence to surge.

Sana relaxes slightly, having heard no more screeching, moaning, or chain rattling in the immediate area. She stretches slightly, upraised hand turning outward as she arches her back and reaches her arms in opposite directions. "Those are all of the angry ghosts we've met. There were a few: Warny, Friendly, Thiefy, Angry, and Cry...y." she say, before moving to the nearest window to see if it would open, though she continues the conversation despite that.

"Ah, yeah." Sana responds. "Razmir is a definite 'maybe' of a deity. His priests hand out psychedelic drugs to rope people into his cult. Pretty much no one that hasn't been directly involved believes he's an actual deity, though. Wouldn't be surprised if he turns out to be one, though... they seem to be coming out of the woodwork, lately."

"We'd want to get Kellvar's body downstairs to prevent any other weirdness. We should collect any weapons we've spotted on this floor to prevent the spirits from being able to use them. We should look for any ways up or down from here that aren't stairwells, and find out if there's a basement. Otherwise, we should probably look for one, anyway. There are a lot of bodies here, so there are probably a lot of people in need of laying to rest... or some other finishing of unfinished business. We'll need to find out what he did with the person he killed, while we're at it."

As Unafe comes up the stairs, Sana briefly considers continuing to turn the spirit into a pincussion, but once Unafe returns to her massive size... and her fists mostly fly through the ghost, she weighs her options. One splatted ghost now, compared to a long term benefit with Unafe being able to fight. The splatted ghost could end the threats altogether, or might mean nothing in the long run. Ultimately, she raises her gauntlet once more as Amber rounds the corner and flies into the periphery of her allies, then dips down into Hinagiku's personal space. Her shadow elongates, becoming the color of a pool of oil as it follows after the lantern, arcing along the ground. It shoots out past the light, before continuing to dart down the hallway, swirling up the dino-girl's form and wrapping around her arms before vanishing into her body. Her focus is already elsewhere, however, as she listens for new threats.

K(Religion): 1d20 + 17 ⇒ (13) + 17 = 30
Perception (Mythic): 1d20 + 24 + 4 ⇒ (14) + 24 + 4 = 42

Free action: Move Amber, Standard action: Ghost Weapon+ for Unafe's unarmed attacks for 90 minutes, costing 2 SP. Move Action: Listen Carefully. Swift Action: Feed Amber. +3 illumination, -2 SP

With the fog cleared, and a direct line of fire on the enemy, Sana's grip on her starknife loosens just enough to add spin as she hurls it underhanded towards the ghost that was giving her allies trouble. With any lucky, she could prevent the ghost from hiding in fog in the future. Immediately, she draws her bow and fires at the ghost, catching her starknife and stowing it in an instant.

Deadly Shot (Haste) with ghost touch: 1d20 + 18 + 1 ⇒ (19) + 18 + 1 = 38
Damage (Precision, Snipe): 1d4 + 3 + 8 + 2d10 ⇒ (2) + 3 + 8 + (6, 1) = 20 If successful, ghosty is entangled and faerie fired.
Rapid Assault (Haste, Rapid): 1d20 + 18 + 1 - 2 ⇒ (13) + 18 + 1 - 2 = 30
Damage: 1d6 ⇒ 5 And ghost is hindered if successful (The target takes a -2 penalty to attack rolls, AC, and CMD)

Sana gains her final maneuver, and one illumination, Deadly Shots and begins a rapid assault.

"Uh... no?" Sana says as Medici suggests they head back downstairs because they 'had enough evidence'. "We're just getting to the good parts of all of this, where we actually get to help the ghosts. We still need to figure out where the gnome is, for example... since we no longer have his joy-riding attempts to guide us." She says, then chews her lip. "There's a whole lot of Iomedaean stuff going on here. Narikopolus." she says, nodding down below them. "Then there's the recovery of the bodies, like the Fallen at Sesker's Gully. Though, I suppose that's less Iomedaean now than it was." she says, tilting her head back and forth. "If you want to head back down, by all means... but I don't trust literally any of this, and I have a nose for trouble. Mostly getting into it." she says, as she heads the opposite direction of the stairs. If the gnome had come from this direction, maybe there was still something to find... especially since she'd left so quickly before. "Worst case, I can at least bring Kelvar downstairs." she calls over her shoulder as she vanishes around the corner.

Sana double moves to get back to the room with Kelvar. Amber gains 3 illumination for a total of 33.