Why not jump in? Clearly there's battle going on, It's probable that Hymn would've heard or seen something (intruders entering tower from outside perhaps?) that would lead him to go down to check on the others.
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Serra had no luck finding something to get the secret door to the closet open again. "*sigh* Now is not the time for this!" She took a few steps back and then rushed the door, throwing herself shoulder first into it trying to force it open. "We've gotta get this open Donovan, they're fighting out there!" she said, clearly worried about the others.
Serra rushed to the end of the hallway only to find the secret door had closed and trapped them in. "Zanthias! Open the door!" she yelled through the sealed compartment. At a loss for what to do, she searched around for a lever or release to open it from inside.
Serra hears Zanthias call out a warning and heads back out of the room in a hurry. "We'll need to figure out how to deal with this curse later," she said to Donovan as she exited the room.
Serra jumped back as the curse hit her. "What the hell was that? Uhn... I feel... everything seems clouded." She shook her head, trying to clear the fogginess, but didn't seem to be able to. She looked down at the mark that had appeared on her arm. "A trap of some sort? Donovan, what do you make of this?" she said as she inspected the mark herself.
Serra moves up to the woman and cautiously removes the veil, attempting to see if she's alive or just magically preserved. "How strange. I wonder if she's one of the Ivory Ravens?" Serra said, thinking aloud.
"Donovan, Xenia, there's a woman in here." she calls back to the others. She then pauses for a moment, first casting detect magic and looking about, before attempting to discern whether the woman is evil or not.
Zanthias:
"Zanthias it is then! I understand your frustration, but I'm certain they'll come around. Lets go see what's inside that compartment." she says with a reassuring pat on his shoulder. When they get the secret door open, Serra allows Xenia to check for traps. When she's satisfied, Serra heads to the door at the end of the hall and attempts to budge it open.
Going inside, she looks around the room until she sees a woman lying on the bed there.
Not expecting to find someone here in the tower, Serra was immediately alarmed by the woman's presence. Without approaching any closer she did her best to try and get a look at the woman.
Serra sighs at Donovan's mistreatment of the halfling. "Donovan, he was just trying to get this infernal puzzle to open... He may have brute forced it, but he did figure out what we need to press. For that we should be grateful" she says as Zanthias storms off. Deciding not to waste any further time, she gets everyone to step back and hits the right glyph quickly, bracing herself for whatever might happen.
Once the glyph is activated, she turns to Xenia and says "Can you finish up here, I'm going to go talk down Zanthias," and then excuses herself to go talk to him. When she finally catches up to him she apologizes for Donovan's remark. "Don't take it personally, I think those glyphs had everyone a bit wound up, Zan. Is it alright if I call you that? I appreciate the help you've given, and I'm certain Xenia and the others do as well, even if they haven't said so yet. They're just adjusting to what we learned about you during the joining. Give them time, they'll come around." With that she puts her hand on Zan's shoulder and heals him again.
"You should take a rest Zanthias. Let Xenia and I finish up. Donovan, could you help patch up Zanthias?" she says, before moving in behind Xenia to help look for anything odd.
"If and when you think it's safe, let me know and I'll hit the remaining glyph, Xenia."
Serra rushes to push the rune that Zanthias had pushed, trying to get the closet open to aid him. "Hold on Zanthias!" As she presses the rune she begins mentally preparing to cast a spell on him when the door opens.
Serra is caught off-guard by the blast of acid that sprays out when Zanthias touches the symbol. She tries her best to move out of the way when she realizes it's spraying at her as well, but moves too slowly.
She winces as the acid hits her, although it's clear she suffers less than the others due to her natural resistance.
When she sees Donovan uncork a waterskin to cancel out the acid she tries to create water to help out, focusing on Zanthias and Xenia before focusing on herself. After helping tend to Zanthias' and Xenia's wounds, she turns her attentions to the symbol, casting detect magic and identify in order to attempt to discern differences between the symbols and what they might do.
I'm here again! Sorry for vanishing. I'll try to post something in the game thread in the morning.
Serra eyes the stones for a moment, trying to decide what to do. On a whim, she places the stone marked with the circle from inside the closet into the slot with the glowing glyph.
Sorry to see you go Wombat, hope things work out for the best for ya.
I don't believe we have identified the potions yet. Looted Items: Banner of Ivory Ravens (200gp) Longspear (masterwork?) dark green glass vial (Very magical)
Keystones - Triangle, Circle, Cube, Crescent Moon
Yes, we're definitely scattered around the place at the moment. I agree that we should group up and focus on one thing. As far as re-searching the levels goes, I'm willing to help do so, and the stones in the closet definitely provide justification to search again if we want to.
Sorry, I've been out of it the past couple days. Have more freedom in the evenings again, so catching up on posts now!
"It definitely seems like this was a puzzle left by them." she says as she comes out of her trance. "They had penchant for this sort of thing." When Keeya calls out that she's found stones inside, Serra looks a bit confused. "It would be odd for the solution to the puzzle to be inside the room, and from her description, the shapes don't directly match. Perhaps those stones belong to another door somewhere in the tower? I get the feeling that there's something here they wanted to keep well hidden, we may want to search the other floors again for secret doors, although I'm not entirely sure if we should delay our departure to do so."
"Interesting... give me a moment. I'll see if I can recall anything about these symbols and the Ivory Ravens," she says to Xenia. Serra looks the symbols on the stones over for a few moments and then closes her eyes, trying to recall if they have any connection to the group.
"If you think you might jam it we should just leave it be for now. We could always stow it in the skiff and give it another shot later. We should probably check quickly behind the secret door and then head up to the skiff. I imagine Keeya has it ready to go by now."
Serra watches as Xenia continues to work on the lock. "I wonder what they were keeping up here... Perhaps this chest belongs to the Ivory Ravens as well?"
Serra examines the box closely and seems to focus on the lock for a minute. "Xenia, it appears that there is a strong conjuration effect on the lock of that box. I would be careful when handling it."
Oops, sorry, was travelling and missed that we were waiting on me. Post in a bit.
Serra examines the chest and area surrounding it using detect magic at Xenia's request before allowing her to work on the chest's locking mechanism.
Serra examines the banner, trying to see if she recognizes the coat of arms on it.
She then takes a look at the polearms, banner and vials with detect magic. After gathering the vials and anything magic she heads off to join the others. When she hears Xenia describe the chest and secret door, she nods. "I'll come as well, it's certainly odd that there would be an untouched chest here."
As the group headed up to head to the skiff, Serra thought about Zanthias. Once a demon... I'm not sure how to feel about that. They took so many lives in Kenabres, and took Philip. It would be vengeance to repay it upon him, but would it be righteous? Is Ragathiel testing me? She adjusted her robes and her breastplate absentmindedly, a physical manifestation of the discomfort her thoughts were causing her. Content to let Xenia and Keeya go over the skiff in preparation, Serra decides to check out the rooms in the old tower in the meantime. "Flame, I'm going to go check out the rooms up here while the skiff is readied."
What makes you say that?
Sorry for the short posts, but I'm sick atm and not really energetic enough to write anything lengthy up.
"I would prefer to take the fight directly to the demons in the wasteland, but it appears I'm in the minority in this case. Also, unsurprisingly, I agree that Flame would make an excellent leader for the group." Serra says after thinking a few moments.
"If he is tainted, let him confess his sins and be judged. He fought against the giants outside so he deserves that much." she says, looking Zanthias in the eyes.
1) I see Serra as a front-line tank (especially once her draconic heritage kicks in) and backup healer/utility. From an ability standpoint, I'm not sure what would help with that. Perhaps the ability to summon minor archons and angels to help out with utility? Probably depends on what we're lacking once everyone else has chimed in. 3) Potion of Undetectable Alignment and a book of war prayers (from ACG) Book of War Prayers: This small, leather-bound collection of war prayers features pages of fine vellum. If you have a Charisma of 13 or higher, or at least 1 rank in Perform (oratory), you can read aloud prayers from the book before battle to hearten others for the trials to come. Reading prayers for this effect takes 10 minutes. You grant those who hear your prayers a +2 morale bonus on the next saving throw against fear they attempt, as long as that saving throw is made in the next 24 hours. 4) Wasteland
When the Captain mentions that gear and armor should be set aside, Serra walks over behind the pillars. Wish I'd known ahead of time, oh well, she thinks as she works off the breastplate. Setting it down with her gear and sword, she walks back and is led to the stone with an etched dragon symbol.
Serra walks into the room, still adjusting the strap which secures her greatsword on her back. She nods at the captain and Keeya above.
Before the Bath:
Serra raises an eyebrow when she sees Donovan appear near the bottom of the stairs. "Donovan, if you don't mind, would you go to one of the other areas? We'll be bathing here shortly, and I would probably prefer a bit of privacy," she says politely but firmly. During the Bath:
"I must admit heat doesn't has never bothered me terribly much, and even less so lately. I imagine I'd do quite poorly in similarly cold water though," she says as she lays back, relaxing somewhat. She listens to Xenia's questioning of her selection. "I understand your doubts, truly. Tell me, where did you find your invitation? Was it just handed to you by a courier? Given how I found mine, I suspect both that it wasn't, and that you recovered it in a fashion that the rest of us might not be able to. If that's the case then certainly you're capable of something I'm not, even if it may not be as flashy as the storm outside."
When Xenia asks about Ragathiel, Serra stops for a moment. "Hmm, I suppose not everyone would have heard of him, I take it for granted that everyone knows him. He is one of the Empyreal Lords and rules over Vengeance, Duty and Chivalry. The red wing and sword emblazoned on my breastplate are his symbol, and the colors of my robes his colors, red and silver. But we should get moving I suppose, we shouldn't keep the Captain waiting any longer." Serra grabs her pack and blade after she finishes donning her armor, and then begins to head on to the next chamber with Xenia.
Serra walks with Xenia down the west set of stairs and begins looking around the room. "The one purification ritual I know was one I learned when I became a Paladin of Ragathiel. As part of the induction you must undergo a ritual cleansing. That, combined with prayer is sufficient to prepare for that which comes afterwards," she says as she wanders along the shelves, grabbing various kinds of incense along with a bowl of volcanic ash. Taking the ingredients over to an unlit brazier, she piles the ash in along with the incense before mixing it up and placing a few coals atop it. Then she concentrates for a moment and a blade of flame appears in her hand, which she plunges into it, causing the coals to ignite. "There, it'll take a bit to be ready, but in the meantime we can bathe." She leads Xenia over to two of the baths and drags a pair of folding partitions in front of it to provide some privacy. As she bathes she asks Xenia "So you served on a ship tracking down slavers? That is truly a noble pursuit. I've not been on the sea before, but it sounds like quite an adventure! Also, I understand your worry that you don't fit in. I worry some myself, being partly blind. But I'm certain the Captain knows chose me for a reason, just as he did you," she says with a reassuring smile.
After the bathing is done she drapes her robes over her and retrieves the smoldering brazier. Dousing it with a bit of water to ensure it is not so hot as to be untouchable, she then removes the robes and proceeds to apply the ash over her body before kneeling in prayer to Ragathiel. When she finishes, she dunks herself back in the bath to remove the remaining ash. "There, it's fairly simple, and if you are not a worshipper of Ragathiel it should be possible to offer prayer to your own god or goddess. Just entreat them to prepare you for the tasks ahead and to protect you from the evil that you will be facing. The words matter less than what's in your heart," she says as she dries off and begins to get dressed again.
"As I said before, I'm prepared. I am certain this is where I was fated. I am certain this is the best place to be in order to prevent another catastrophe like Kenabres," she says in a serious tone. "When we head out, I'd prefer to head to the wasteland. I'd prefer to do battle with demons, and the terrain will be more amenable to the use of fire like the storm outside without burning down a forest."
"Sometimes one must sacrifice for the greater good. I have no qualms, I am ready and willing to proceed," Serra says with determination.
I think Wolf is travelling at the moment. I'm assuming since the battle ended he decided to leave it where it is until he returns.
Seeing Keeya's concern, Serra interjects. "Not all blood magic is evil Keeya, the storm I summoned outside was blood magic as well." Serra takes hold of her hand, lifting it up to examine the remnants of the slash across her palm, the second in days. She pauses for a moment, tracing her thumb along the wound. Draconic blood magic at that, something my neither my mortal nor celestial heritage should allow. I wonder how many of the seer's other predictions will also prove true? After a few moments of contemplation, she continues. "There is power in the blood, and it is possible to draw it forth to enhance magic. It is, however, easier to abuse than conventional magic. I imagine very few people practice it legitimately anymore because few are willing to sacrifice a portion of themselves to fuel the magic. The evil tend not to care since they're in it for the power or they use the blood of others to fuel it." Turning to the captain, she addresses him: "Captain Vortani, I would be interested in learning the details of this ritual and what it entails. Partly to assuage the worries of Keeya, and partly for curiosity's sake."
Xenia:
When Xenia asks for aid tending her wounds before the group heads into the tunnel, Serra is happy to oblige. "Here, let me take care of that, I still have some healing left today." Serra lays her hand on Xenia's shoulder and prays quietly to Ragathiel, asking for a healing boon.
Serra follows the others into the tunnel and to the tower. When Captain shows his blackened dagger, Serra pulls hers out to see if it has blackened as well. Interesting, certainly an effective way to identify your allies, she thinks before sheathing the dagger again. "I am Serra, survivor of the assault on Kenabres, Crusader of Ragathiel, and Flame's Lieutenant in the battle at New Actuss." She bows to the captain after introducing herself. She then adds: "I can handle myself in combat, and I've a knack for knowing things that few people would know. The knowledge comes at a cost, however, as my world is a perpetually burning maelstrom, not unlike the one I summoned outside of the tower. I also have some measure of healing ability, as Xenia, and Zan can attest to." Introduction completed, she turns to Zan and compliments him on the trick.
"It's a pleasure to meet you Zan. Now hold still, this may hurt a bit," she says as she puts one hand on the halfling's shoulder and the other on the arrow. With a quick jerk she pulls out the arrow, letting it fall to the ground as she begins invoking a healing spell.
As she releases the spell, the wound closes and ceases bleeding. "There, that should staunch the blood flow. So you are here to meet the Captain as well? Good timing on everyone's arrival it seems!" She turns and begins walking along the edge of the eye of the storm counter-clockwise until she reaches the others. When Keeya introduces her to them both, she smiles and bows towards them. "It's a pleasure to meet you both. Well, I suppose we shouldn't keep the Captain waiting, shall we head down?"
"Don't mind Hymn, he's a bit rough, but his aims are noble." she says looking up at the halfling with a disarming smile.
"If you wish, I can help with the arrow. It'll need to be pulled though. Would you prefer to do so yourself?" she asks politely. "I'm Serra, by the way." she adds with a surprisingly graceful bow despite her obvious fatigue.
Active Effects:
Spells lvl 1 (5/7)
The sound of the giant dying off a ways behind Serra is enough to convince her that there might be more enemies incoming. Taking a moment she channels more healing to herself and invokes Ragathiel's name again to ask for his favor in the remaining battle. Serra watches the halfling walk out of the storm with interest. He worked that giant over quite effectively. Hopefully that means he's on our side. Thinking discretion is the better part of valor, she decides to double check. Focusing on the Halfling she attempts to verify that he isn't evil.
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