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Lili feels like she is about to explode. A dwarf -- A DWARF!! -- is her friend! He wants her and Cyrus to walk with him. Maybe he isn't so grumpy after all. She begins the walk next to Cyrus, as usual, but somehow ends up next to Rhugarr after a few minutes. She doesn't remember deciding to walk with him, but she reaches up to take his arm all the same.
Lili sees the door open and jumps to her feet. Her eyes go directly to Cyrus's hands; did he take the wayfinder? When she sees it in his hand, she yips with delight and runs to embrace him.
Lili says nothing on her way out of the room, but reaches out and gives Cyrus's hand a squeeze.
Lili can't help herself when she sees Rhugarr come to; she leans down and gives him a big hug. "I'm so glad you're okay! I'm, uh, real sorry about the gravel on your intestines." She is positively beaming.
Lili grabs Cyrus's two potions and rushes back to Rhugarr's side. Noticing for the first time the true extent of his injuries, she shakes her head. "I don't know how you aren't dead. I hope these are enough to bring you back."
Lili finally reaches Cyrus's side.
Lili hears Cyrus continuing to struggle with the cleric and rushes back towards the mist.
Lili reaches down and grabs Rhugarr by the leg and starts to drag. She winces at his exposed innards picking up gravel and dirt as she does so, but that's a problem for later. For now, she just needs to keep him alive! She grunts with the effort and feels like the veins in her head are just about to pop, but she manages to move him back around 15 feet.
Lili kneels down and pours the potion down Rhugarr's throat.
If Donovan senses that the woman has moved, he will again move forward until he pinpoints her location, then attack.
"Donovan! Fetch!" Donovan moves forward a square at a time, attempting to sniff out the final foe. He lashes out with his jaws, attempting to latch onto the woman and hold her.
Lili removes a potion from her belt and prepares to give it to Rhugarr.
Donovan snarls at the terrible, terrible woman and bites.
With a final growl, he winks out of existence. Lili's sight blurs with tears of rage at seeing Rhugarr's state. She grabs her compass again, makes a fist, and swings her arm in an uppercut motion, punctuated by a scream of defiance. A vicious looking barbed chain erupts from the ground under the caster's feet, wraps around her legs, and attempts to pull her down.
Lili touches the ring on her left ring finger with her left thumb. She reaches up to touch Cyrus's arm and says, "Bye-bye!" Cyrus disappears and Lili takes a step back.
Dammit, I knew it! "Cyrus, get your head out of your ass! Danger!" She reaches down to her compass and mumbles to herself, "Donovan! Sorry buddy, we need some cannon fodder." A moment later Donovan the Celestial Dog appears at the edge of the fog. He immediately sniffs the air, trying to identify someone to bite.
Something about this doesn't feel right. Keep an eye out, Lili. He's not in any shape to do it.
Lili knows Cyrus's moods enough to recognize when it is not time to make a joke. Man, he really hates devils and demons and all that stuff! She gives Zarta an awkward bow and scurries off after Cyrus, who is not shortening his strides like he normally does to surreptitiously let her keep up.
As the imp dissolves into nothing, Lili rushes to Donovan's side. She sits down next to him and rubs his face, his ears, his head, all while he showers her with slobbery doggy kisses. "Good boy! Such a good boy! Who took a bite out of the imp? Was that you? WAS IT YOU?" Before Donovan has a chance to answer, he begins to fade away. He gives Lili one last kiss and then returns to his home plane. Lili stands up. "I love that damn dog."
Donovan snarls and snaps at the imp as it flies by.
Lili casts another spell, this time focusing on the broken compass hanging from her belt. After a few moments of concentration, Donovan the Celestial Dog appears in the square next to her and begins searching for the imp with its nose.
Lili reaches to her side and touches Cyrus's hammer. She fiddles with the buttons on her vest briefly and a wave of purple psychic energy travels from the vest, through her arm and fingertips, and into the hammer. "Happy hunting," she says with a smile, and then moves to the southern portion of the room.
Lili quickly describes what she knows about imps.
Lili catches Cyrus's arm. "Wait." Turning to Zarta, she says, "What kind of creature is through that door?"
She closes her eyes and spins her ring on her finger for a few seconds. Purple psychic energy flows out of it and surrounds her small body. As she opens her eyes, the energy dissipates and her body seems to waver and jump from place to place. "Okay. Let's go."
Lili notices the halfling giving the party the stinkeye. She recalls the red-haired woman from before. "Don't look, but I do believe we are being watched. Could be my imagination, but this is the second time I've seen someone."
Lili walks towards the double doors. "What is going on in here?"
Lili claps her hands and whoops with delight. She pulls the map and wand out of the chest and shows them to Cyrus and Rhugarr. "This is what we came for. That was fun!" She then uses the final key to open the door.
Lili opens her eyes and winks at Rhugarr. "I told you puzzles were my thing." She confidently approaches the iron chest, inserts the brass key, and turns it.
Lili spends a minute with each key, eyes closed, fingers running over the contours, absorbing and reading the psychic energy stored in each.
Lili mutters to herself when the mage hand fails to retrieve the key. "I was afraid of that." You see the hand make a little shrug gesture before winking out of existence. She nods at Rhugarr. "I suppose it's worth a try, but that's a tough shot." She pulls out her crossbow, aims carefully, and fires.
Lili looks up in the direction of the click. "Well, this is interesting. We have two keys but only one lock. I'll see if I can get that key down."
Lili feels her invisibility wear off just as she closes the lid over the snake. "Ha! I can't believe that worked!" She sees the familiar look of discomfort on Cyrus's face, and, as always, he quickly replaces it with one of pride. Lili does a little skip and walks back to the red chest. She tries the key in it.
Lili huffs in frustration. "I'm sorry that I yelled at you, Rhugarr. This is frustrating. It looks like we're going to have to open that basket. I have a crazy idea. I don't want to hurt the snake so please stand as far away as you can, but be ready." Lili walks behind the table. With a blink of her eyes and a subtle flourish of her hand, four small orbs of light appear on the other side of the table. She sets them moving in a hypnotic spiraling dance. Then she closes her eyes and begins spinning her ring on her finger. After a moment, she winks out of existence. Rhugarr and Cyrus see the lid of the basket slowly raise up...
Lili shoots an angry look at Rhugarr. When she speaks, it is in a shout that belies her tiny size. "Don't touch anything else! I don't need your help!"
Lili claps her hands and looks at Cyrus and Rhugarr triumphantly. ”Ha-HA!” She walks to the table, semi-consciously staying as far away from the basket as she can, and snatches the key off of it. She tries the key on the red chest.
Lili closes her eyes and begins absentmindedly fiddling with the buttons on her vest. Her eyes dart back and forth under her eyelids. After a few moments, she opens her eyes and a shimmering, translucent disturbance appears in the air above the jar. It solidifies somewhat into the shape of a hand, which reaches down into the jar, grabs the key, and places it on the table next to the jar.
”Rhugarr, do you detect any magic?”
Lili tells the others what she sees. ”If anyone else has any ideas, I’m all ears. For now, I’m going to see if I can pick the lock on the red chest since there doesn’t seem to be any downside to trying!”
Lili claps her hands and lets out a little squeal. "Oh don't worry, you ol' grump. Puzzles are my thing!" She proceeds to examine the lock on the door, the chests, the glass, and the basket.
Lili's eyes grow wide at the prospect of exploring vaults. What untold artifacts and treasure could they hold?! She looks up at Cyrus excitedly and tugs at his arm. "Cyrus! Let's go!"
Lili sees Cyrus's crestfallen look and speaks up. "It is unfair of you to hold Cyrus responsible for something his player forgot about! You should be yelling at him, not Cyrus!"
Lili snatches the medicine off the table. "You tried, Cyrus. Let's go."
Lili sighs heavily when she finds the stash of medicine. This isn't definitive proof that Baltwin is withholding or otherwise misusing the medicine, but it doesn't look good. Why hide it? And the fact that they are from three different charities is potentially damning as well. She returns the medicine to its compartment as carefully as possible and returns to Cyrus and Rhugarr. She asks Headmistress Baltwin to excuse them for a moment and tells the others what she found (being sure to include that she does not believe the children are mistreated or unsafe).
Lili frowns at her utter lack of success with the children. She begins to leave the dormitories, dejected, but suddenly has another idea. She heads to the dormitory with the sick children and begins looking around for items that might be a child's "woobie".
Lili sees Cyrus's gesture and slips off while they continue to the office.
She returns to the dormitories and enters.
Lili briefly considers playing along so she might have a chance to speak to the children unsupervised, but something about this woman makes her think better of it. She takes an involuntary step back from the woman. "My name is Lili, and I am 64 years old." Her usual mirth is nowhere to be seen.
"I will try to get some of the kids to talk to me. They'll probably be more open with me than Mr. Grumpybeard and Shinyarmor Longhammer the Brave."
Lili looks up at Cyrus bemusedly. She desperately wants to make fun of him, but she saw Zadrian too. If she were into humans, Cyrus would have some competition. For once, she decides to leave it alone. It's nice to see Cyrus have a feeling. She looks at the address. "Easy. It's this way."
Lili's mouth is unabashedly agape as she looks up at Zadrian. "You are the most beautiful woman I have ever seen," she says almost matter-of-factly, as if she is simply stating an obvious tautology that need not be spoken aloud.
"It doesn't really matter where we go next; they're all on the other side of town. Let's get a coach and head to the Temple of the Shining Star."
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