Sigrun swats Melech on the arm. "C'mon. Let's find some booze and some shade, and catch up."
Search Posts
"Ma'am!" Sigrun cries with mock disgust. "Honey, you're probably older than me." She nudges Melech. "C'mon, I think this crowd will riot if they don't get to lead the victors to their spoils."
Sigrun immediately throws her arms around Melech. "I'm fine, I'm fine! It was a nasty spill, but I've been closer to death than that before!" She leans down and hugs Ulysses too. "I'm so glad to see you two in one piece! The news out of Wati has been slow to reach us, and all of it dire. Though I did hear the restless dead were finally put back down." She gives Melech a mischievous grin. "Wonder who's doing that was?" When the cleric comes over, she glances at Melech with an inscrutable look, but it's quickly gone, replaced by a huge grin and a hearty handshake. "That was something else! A well-earned victory sir." When she gets hit by several blasts of healing energy she groans, "Oooh, that itches! Thank you though. I think I had a few broken ribs in that mess." She turns to Danu and shakes the wizard's hand firmly. "Well met." She cocks her head. "Those braids in your hair. Ekujae?"
"Sweet merciful gods," she groans as she sits up. "I should've known it would be you two madmen who would almost kill me." Despite her harsh words, she grins at Ulysses. "Still, thanks for the drink. Much appreciated."
Sigrun, in a moment of uncharacteristic introversion, quietly excuses herself from the others and heads directly to her room.
Sigrun watches Idorii intently, paying particular attention to vocal patterns and tone. After all of it, she shrugs at Melech. "She's telling the truth, so far as I can tell."
Sigrun waves him off after the second wand tap. "That's plenty. Thanks."
She shakes her head at most of the scrolls. "I honestly don't know. Some of them I could probably use, but most of these attack spells are out of my wheelhouse. My magic tends to be a bit more subtle. Or at least not so fiery." She looks uncertainly at the wand Ulysses offers, then takes it with a sigh and sticks it in her belt.
Sigrun doesn't look at Melech. She simply shrugs her shoulders. He's probably right, but it doesn't make her feel any better. She perks up at the alchemist's words. "I... I think I have one more in me." She touches Melech's shoulder again.
She slumps back down with a sigh. "That's it. That's all I got left. I need to nap for like 2 years."
Sigrun pulls out her handaxe and hacks the ropes binding Ulysses. Then she falls against the wall and slides down, staring numbly at the gore-slicked hallway full of corpses. She has never shied away from a fight, but this is the first time she's participated in the death of other intelligent beings. She is decidedly not a fan. "I know there's a lot of temple left to explore, but... can we go? I need to bathe."
Sigrun stumble-runs over to Melech and touches his shoulder, sending positive energy into him.
Sigrun yells,
Sigrun whoops and runs out of the alcove. "I don't have complete control of it, but I've got a shot! Quick--how do I say 'attack' in Ancient Osiriani??"
Sigrun blinks. "Oh. Okay. Yeah!" She focuses on the keystone, channeling some arcane power into it, trying to wrest control of the ankhat.
Sigrun glances up momentarily from her reading. Come on, come on... Is... is that...? Yes! I think that's it!
Sigrun's song dies in her throat and she coughs hoarsely. "I... I can't... I don't have any more--" She stops in mid-sentence and her eyes light up. "Wait! That was the keystone! Melech, keep her off me!" Sigrun rushes into the alcove and studies the keystone, trying to sort it out. "Gods-cussed hieroglyphs," she mutters. "Why can't it be in modern Osiriani...?" She focuses her magical sense on it and casts identify on it.
Sensing fleeing prey, Sigrun gives chase and swings again at Velriana with her axe, never letting the song die in her throat.
Sigrun looks a little unhappily at the headless Khelru. Maybe she's wrong, but it seemed like he might have been reasoned with, especially in his precarious state. It felt like an execution, not a victory. She looks pitiably on Azaz, then at the ankhat battering her. If Velriana really is controlling it, maybe they can stop it by stopping Velriana? Besides, the idea of killing Azaz right now makes her stomach turn a little. The bard tumbles away from the ankhat, trying to reach Velriana without provoking a response from the elemental.
She moves up to Velriana and lashes out with her battleaxe.
Still singing, Sigrun strides into the hall to face off against Khelru. She has no idea what all this is about who the temple belongs to; she only cares he attacked her friends. And if that b+%!@ Idorii shows her face again, Sigrun's got an axe for her.
Sigrun looks uncertainly at the gnome as he runs back in. Should they really be trying to kite them into here? There's nowhere to maneuver with this many combatants... She decides to follow Ulysses' lead for now and steps up to the door, readying her battleaxe to smack somebody if they come through.
Sigrun stays back and begins singing.
Sigrun hustles out, drawing both her weapons as she goes, and takes a single swing at Idorii.
Sigrun squirms under the barrage of magic, instinctively flexing all her muscles with every jolting surge of healing. "Ugh. No kidding. Everything itches when it goes through me. Why does it have to itch?" She scratches at her chest a couple times, where the internal bleeding was previously, but quickly gives it up as a loss; it's impossible to scratch an itch under the skin without undoing all the healing she just received. She then pats the gnome on the shoulder and says "Good luck," before moving back to the stairwell and out of sight.
Sigrun grunts. "I think I have a headache. But as far as the plan, it sounds good to me. Ulysses can hide with magic and take a look around. It seems we have two ways out of here, east or west. Based on where the staircase was, I'd say there's probably more of this floor to the east than to the west, but it can't hurt to check out both."
Sigrun wobbles to her feet, covered head to toe in her own blood and several bruises that have suddenly gone from dark purple to sickly yellow, and hobbles up the stairs, somehow managing to make the feeble movement seem forceful and determined. At the top of the steps, she kicks open the chest with her boot and starts wordlessly strapping on her armor, then sheathes her magical battleaxe in its belt loop. Finally she says with a scowl, "I don't give a s&&* if I get cursed. I'm not going into battle without my armor again." She then slaps herself and Melech with another pair of healing spells and strides irritably back down the stairs.
Sigrun wobbles, but she doesn't cease her singing. She glances meaningfully at the gnome, trying hard to get her message across: I'll get the ankhat. Melech can't take another barrage like that. Kill the statue. Wondering how many other adventurers have fallen to sudden violent architecture, she swings both her handaxe and dagger at the ankhat.
Sigrun yelps and turns around to face the ankhat. "Gods, how many times do we gotta kill this thing?" she grumbles, before launching into a powerful battle chant.
Sigrun yelps as she hears the statue move toward them in the darkness and immediately casts light on Melech again. "So much for that plan!"
Sigrun temporarily douses her light spell on Melech and does her best to keep up with the others, not being terribly stealthy herself.
Sigrun sighs. "I don't even know how to use it. The only thing I'm likely to hit with it is myself. Best I can probably do is sing at it and take a few hits for you."
Sigrun looks a little resentful at Melech's wordless order, but does as he asks. She simply shakes her head at Ulysses' question, but then swings her gaze southward and stops. She points at the statue just visible through the gate in the southward room. "That."
Sigrun looks deeply uncomfortable. "I don't sense any magic on any of you. I also don't sense any magic on this box. I really don't feel comfortable taking on the Scorched Hand and gods know what else with no armor and a hatchet." She stares at her studded leather armor and rune-carved battleaxe before finally dropping the weapon in the box looking sick. "Help me out of this." Once her armor is off, she's left with significantly less clothing--wrappings across her chest, shoulder, and upper arms stand in for a blouse, tight brown leggings cinched with a tattered silk cord the color of hoarfrost, and her blood-splattered boots are all that remains, covered by a light silk cloak of oddly bright greens and yellows to keep the heat off. It looks like it was purchased within the last few days, but those few days have been deeply unkind to it: the hem is frayed and ragged, it's covered in dark streaks that can only be old blood, and--is that an acid burn? Sigrun pulls out a plain dagger from her belt and, hatchet and dagger in hand and feeling incredibly vulnerable, she shrugs. "Let's get this over with."
Sigrun runs over to the gnome and puts a hand on him.
"Are you okay? Gods, that was a lot of blood!"
Sigrun waves him off. "Save the charges."
Most of her wounds close up, and she sighs in relief. "I should have done that after the skeletons. I just got so excited to get in here and see this place! Look at how--erm. Look at how pristine it was, before a corrupted genie shat sand everywhere!" She stands up and sheathes her axes in their frogs, then dusts herself off. "I suppose we should--FILIBUS!" She hurries off to the north to look for signs of the historian.
Sigrun plops down into one of the nearby sand dunes and watches the creature melt. "Ow."
Sigrun tries to avert her gaze and then hack away at this thing.
She doesn't quite avert her gaze, but she manages to shake off whatever bad mojo the div just threw at her.
Sigrun hurries forward, toward Melech's voice, and sees the creature. She rushes in and swings at the div with her battleaxe.
Unable to keep an eye on their quarry, Sigrun gives up on the song in frustration. Its power is wasted if they can only see their opponent half the time. She readies her battleaxe to strike anything that comes in range.
Still singing, Sigrun picks up her other axe and moves to flank with Melech, averting her eyes as best she can.
Sigrun shakes off the stun and snatches her battleaxe off the ground.
She points to the statue of Nethys just north-by-northeast of them. "That thing is a spectral hand spell! The caster has to be very close. Check behind the statue of Nethys!" With that, she begins singing again, the song carrying weirdly in the whipping din of the sandstorm, giving it an ethereal quality that is both haunting and oddly comforting.
Sigrun moves the long way around, still maintaining her song. Blasted desert monsters. What the Hells is this thing?? With nothing else for it, she swings out with her battleaxe.
Having no idea what is going on, she elects to keep singing; even if that last attack finished off the ankhat, it feels like this fight is not over.
"Holy crap! This place has an ankhat?? These things are crazy rare. It's like a caretaker for the building. It can move through walls and floors, sort of like an earth elemental with does with rock and dirt. So, good new is, I think it's almost dead. Bad news is, it can just re-manifest later. We need to find its keystone to stop it for good!" After a pause, she adds, "These things aren't normally this aggressive. They're basically janitors! Velriana and her cronies musta found the keystone and taken control of it. If we can find it, maybe we can use it against her! For now, just keep smacking the thing." With that, she draws both her axes and belts out another song. This time it's low and heavy, with a lot of minor notes; it sounds more like a dirge than a battle hymn, but you get the sense it's a dirge for her enemies more than her allies.
Sigrun frowns as she looks around, shaking her head. "Definitely traces of the necromancy used to make these jackal-skeletons, but there's something else about the magic I can't put my finger on." She touches herself to heal her most recent gaping wound.
Seeing the battle almost over, Sigrun ceases her singing to focus solely on some destruction. She moves up into a flank with Melech and swings with her battleaxe.
Sigrun keeps singing as she unleashes her axes on #4.
Sigrun curses as the creatures tear into her. She pulls out her axes and begins bellowing a warcry.
Sigrun shifts awkwardly. She taps Ulysses on the shoulder says in a low tone, "I dunno about you, but I'm just now learning that existential horror makes me damned uncomfortable. What are we gonna do with this guy?"
Sigrun comes around the corner, placing a hand on her gored abdomen and washing it over with positive energy.
She sees Filibus and sucks in a breath. "Gods. What the Hells happened to you?" She looks over the wound. "Superficial. You're lucky, whatever hit you looks like it was heavy." She heals it up just to make sure.
With a final swipe, Sigrun breaks off the last of the crud sticking her legs to the ground. Though enough crud is splattered against her leggings to make movement difficult, at least now she can move. She continues singing while moving toward the rope leading up to the roof.
|