Valka continue her drunk-like barely alive move all the way inside the room .
With her back to the wall, Valka slowly, cuz she’s in pain, holds her shield and gladius up, looks at the Priests (all 3 of them!) and says in a weak, having difficulty breathing, voice:
“You … want … to kill … me? … I’m … right … here … what you …waiting for …COME ON!!!” That last thing I SHOUT as loud as I can!!!
Seeing the creature on the roof, Titus prepares to attack it if it comes closer. His head is swimming.
All three Diagoras’s point at Valka and utter a single guttural word none of the Heroes understand (Gravus believes it to be Goblinoid without being 100% sure). The primal hobgoblins react in unison, launching their bodies at Valka. Though heavily wounded (GRAVELY INJURED), the maiden uses whatever energy she has left on defense, blocking a series of strong spear jabs with her scutum. She knows the heavy maul will probably only allow the creature one swing, but a devastating one. She times the attack aimed high and ducks under it. The heavy hammer head crashes on the wall behind her, sending chips of stone and dust flying, leaving a crack in the bricks where the blow landed.
The old holgoblin hag, her newly mutilated sagging breasts dangling and dripping blood, shrieks repeatedly, trying to unnerve the Dwarf while her weapon, swinging indiscriminately, aims to find its mark. Gravus avoids and blocks with the battle-axe the first few swings aimed high but a low blow lands on his left thigh, bruising the thick muscle.
All three Diagoras’s meanwhile, turning their backs for a moment, rummage quickly through the shelves, and turn around, each holding a similar looking potion in hand. They drink the liquid within: their bodies convulse slightly in immediate reaction.
END OF ROUND 9
START OF ROUND 10
Gravus lets out a grunt as the crude weapon impacts his leg, sending him stumbling a few steps towards the burly priest at his side.
Planting his right foot to prevent a collision with Bjarturius, the dwarf grips his own weapon tightly and reverses his momentum with a wide arc aimed towards the hag's belly.
Gravus's blow is unbalanced and off, missing the belly by a good margin.
Bjarturius has a renewed appreciation for the dwarf. He had not seen it coming, but the dwarf did... He would remember! But it is the warrior-maiden's will that impresses him, her spirit seems to burn as strong as ever, even as her body fails her. Such courage is truly inspiring!
It is time to end the Trial. Bjarturius goes to x6y14 and strikes the hobgoblin at x5y15 with his giant club.
Giant club vs maul: a contest befitting Bjarturius. The Priest of Kord sees the hogboglin recovering from his strike and readying himself for another at Valka. Bjarturius, with limited space in this now very crowded room, finds his options limited to an overhead downward blow as he moves in. The crushing strike lands on the creature’s upper chest, breaking ribs and causing it immense pain.
Valka try to finish the maul one that Bjarturius hurt but still cautious, back to the wall and defending with her shield.
The maul-wielding fiend, sent reeling back by the Priest of Kord, is left vulnerable and unfocused. Valka sees her chance. "Let Korud Guide you": the word of the Priest come back to Valka as she uses her waning strength for one more precise gladius jab. The blade penetrates between 2 ribs and find the creature's black heart: it collapses and dies, reverting to dark blood.
Titus continues his vigil over the creature on the roof. Seeing it not move, Titus grabs a fist sized stone and hurls it at the creature.
Titus grabs one of the many rocks that litter the ground, especially now after the latest stone trap collapse, and throws it at the dark fey creature. The rock misses and impacts a feet away from the wicked tiny dexterous thing but it is enough to startle it and scare it away: it disappears on the rooftop (going west).
The spear wielding hobgoblin continues his attempts to skewer Valka but is denied by her judicious placement of her scutum.
The old hag, sensing victory over Gravus, redoubles her efforts, shrieks and chaotic weapon swings. She lands a vicious blow on Gravus's chest, INJURING the Dwarf, bruising muscle, the spikes drawing a few streaking rivulets of blood.
The potion Diagoras drank has clearly enraged him. Grabbing his ceremonial blade, the old man (well, the three old men) now has the vitality of a young warrior and throws himself in the melee where the maul fiend just collapsed in blood, shouting a distorted "Erythnul Exulte!"
END OF ROUND 10
START OF ROUND 11
Bjarturius recognizes the wicked magic of the Eye of Erythnul... and for a moment he's reminded of the small island temple he'd retrieve it from with his companions... The last time, he didn't have the chance to measure himself to the task of sending the frog shaman back to his dark god... Now he is glad the Lord of Might sends him this trial, so he may become a better man in His eyes.
He meets the enraged priest with his raised giant club, answering his challenge in a deep resonant voice:
"Korud, guite my hant!"
The impact on his chest momentarily winds the dwarf, sending him into a brief coughing fit as he reaches out with his free hand to steady himself against the wall.
Bringing his pilfered axe up into a guarded position, he makes a more cautious attack than his last, a short slash more designed to interfere with the hag's wild onslaught than to harm her.
The INJURED, coughing and bleeding Gravus steadies himself against the stone of the wall. The stone: hearth of the Dwarven race. It focuses him. The Goblinoid race: our ancient enemies. That also focuses him. Trials indeed. That Human God, Kord, had never appealed to Gravus: too chaotic, too much of a glory hound. But enduring the trials of life: now that is an aspect of the God any Dwarf can understand, respect, maybe even get inspired by. Gravus's blow is measured, focused and precise. Very precise. Unlike her primal kinsmen, the old hag does have some armor, a ragtag of leather and hide covering her belly and legs. But her torso is left open: her chest and mutilated breasts exposed, perhaps to excite the old man, perhaps for its symbolic primal blood-giving mother-figure significance. Gravus aims for it with an backhand arcing upward strike. He hacks off one of the sagging breast, cutting deep in the pectoral muscle. The upward arc finishes its slash on the hag's face, opening the cheek to the bone and severing the left ear. A devastating attack that leaves the hag critically wounded.
Bjarturius sees why his God brought him here: he must finish what was started at the Temple of Frogs. The final trial of Korud stands before him: defeat the foul magic of Erythnul of the Beasts to save Veleda. Three forms, only one is true. Bjarturius closes his eyes for an instant, drawing on Faith to guide him. 'För det är där en hjälte går', 'For this is where a hero goes' He once told his comrades in arm at the Temple of Frogs. He reopens his eyes and swings the great club, chosen weapon of his God. The weapon impacts on the true Diagoras. The enraged old man groans in pain as the club hits the shoulder and glances on the side of the jaw, knocking loose a few teeth and making the Priest of Erythnul spit blood.
Valka, when Bjarturius hits the RIGHT target (she thinks to herself quickly "WAY TO GO BJARTURIUS!!!"), sees a chance she can't pass up, no matter how hurt she is! Using all the strength she has left, she puts aside defense and makes a full attack on the "Priest" that Bjarturius just hit, imagining and hoping it HAS to be the right one!!!
Valka, running on adrenaline at this point, seizes the opportunity Bjarturius, through his inspired blow, gave her. Seeing the great club hit a solid target and not the magically created shades, the gravely wounded Valka goes for broke: a jab of her spiked scutum aimed at the chest meant to stun, main and distract, followed by a slash of her gladius aimed at the throat meant to kill. The maneuver is executed perfectly: the spike jabs deep in Diagoras's lung and the throat is cut open deep by the blade, blood pouring freely. A fatal blow. The Priest is still standing, teeter-totting in place in stunned stupor, a dead man but still on his feet, as if his dark God refused for his Priest to fall.
Valka! No! Titus is horrified to see the priest wounded to the brink of death. What if they do not find the antidote. What if they need him to make it for them!
Titus moves to finish the hag. The momentum of this fight having turned to favor them.
Titus, though gravely injured, sees the tides turning, but his military training has taught him you can defeat your enemy and still lose the war if your battle objectives are not met. In this case, the antidote, if it even exist, remains the objective.
Finding his own stretched out reserves of strength and energy waning but bolstered by the inspiring might of Kord, the gravely wounded warrior steps in between Gravus and Bjarturius . He lunges straight at the open chest wound Gravus created just moments before. The old hag, still in shock, doesn't even move to defend. The legionnaire's long gladius slides in through the heart and exits on the other side of her chest, skewering her neatly. She dies on the spot, dropping to the floor.
The last primal hobgoblin takes advantage of Valka's offensive posture. It has left her scutum unable to properly defend and his spear slams on her side, sending her to the floor, unconscious.
The Priest staggers back slowly, gurgling blood. He drops the crystal ball and dagger, clutching his throat trying to prevent the massive blood loss. The shades dissipate when he drops the Eye of Erythius.
END OF ROUND 11
START OF ROUND 12
After watching the old hag fall to the ground, Gravus' eyes turn upwards to the sole threat remaining within the room before sending a glance to the heavily bleeding priest who may hold the secret of a cure to the terrible poison inflicted upon Valka and Veleda.
Unsure of how long the old man might survive, Gravus abandons thought of defense and turns his full focus to ending the foul beast wielding the spear before it proves too late. Pushing himself away from the reassuring presence of the stone wall, he rushes towards the hobgoblin and swings his weapon with an almost reckless determination.
Gravus's reckless determination pays off: the battle-axe hits the creature in the left bicep and cleaves through the muscle. The primal fiend growls in shock and pain.
Not leaving anything to the Fates this time, Bjarturius presses the advantage to finish off the trial, sending a forceful blow from his giant club into the last hobgoblin...
"By Korud's Might!" he bellows finally...
Bjarturius, circles around the cauldron to engage the last fighting opponent.
With a loud echoing battle cry the big man makes a swinging arc as wide as the space allows. It lets him get the full force desired. The club impacts on the skull and breaks it. The last hobgoblin smashes on the wall and reverts to blood, giving it a dark green paint job.
Titus is torn looking at Valka and the staggering priest. His thoughts turn back to the child and he makes his decision and rushes to the priest to try to staunch the blood flow and stabilize him.
As he does this he yells to Valeriana, unsure if she will even be able to hear him. Valeriana, bring everyone here.
Just after his "paint job" Bjarturius crouches down from his big height to the warrior-maiden's fallen body, and, carefully and easily gathering her into a sitting position with his right arm for support, he touches his Holy Symbol with his left hand and says:
"Te Strengfh of Korud wit you, varrior-maiten!"
After attending to Valka, and hoping she comes to her senses, he gently leaves her regain her strength leaning her against the wall (in an "unpainted" spot) and turns to touch the priest, uttering:
"Before deafh, you ansver!"
Bjarturius, who seems remarkably unhurt after those 2 intense minutes of combat, helps the gravely injured Valka to a sitting position. After bestowing the blessing of Korud upon her, he feels assured she will make it. The pelvic wound does worry him though: she might have some sequels because of it. Valka is breathing slowly, opening her eyes and feeling very light headed from all the blood loss.
Titus was busy trying to keep Diagoras alive, the legionnaire using some cloth he found on a shelf to stem the blood flow. Bjarturius comes to his aid. With his large hand, he grabs the Priest by the throat. The effusion is slowed for a short while. Diagoras’s eyes remain defiant, even in the face of death: “I answer only to Erythnul of the Beasts!” He manages to gurgle out.
In the distance, Valeriana is approaching with Ballio who is helping Veleda along. He is also carrying baby Veronius in his other arm.
"I would humbly suggest ye rethink that position," Gravus says to the dying priest, replacing the axe in his hands with the morningstar of the fallen hag and taking a few steps closer.
"We won't be offering ye your life," he continues, letting the weight of the weapon drag along the floor, "that is clearly worthless. But this," he stops his advance, letting the head of the morningstar rest alongside the orb dropped by Diagoras, the apparent source of his dark powers, "this seems te hold much more value to ye, and dare I say to Erythnul also?"
"I cannae help but wonder what terrible vengeance Erythnul might have waiting in the afterlife, for one of her faithful who would allow harm to come to this wee trinket..."
Valeriana reaches the ruined temple and looks around, wrinkling her nose at the mess.
"So you're not all dead then. I suppose that's something. What in the name of Boccob and Nemesis happened here?"
The defiant gaze of Diagoras leaves him the instant the Orb is threatened.
"Don't! Don't destroy it!"
He raises a weak outstretched hand up, a helpless gesture that speaks volumes.
"Don't ye worry, I won't damage it," the dwarf says levelly, letting the morningstar remain in it's position next to the orb, "so long as ye tell us what ye know of Grenvidr rukhsitaz, in particular, how te cure it."
Diagoras, at first surprised by Gravus's words, seems to understand where the Dwarf is going with this. He answers right away: "The poison? It is old, older than me. A secret of the Goblins, from south of here. Erkin taught it to me, but if there's a cure, by the Eye of Erythius I swear, I don't know what it is." The voice with its increasing blood-gurgling sounds, indicate the Priest doesn't have long to live.
Bjarturius asks: "Te Eye, I prought it back to te Domina! Nov tell me! Vho is Erkin? Vhere is he?"
Diagoras's eyes begin to roll in their sockets, he is about to faint soon from blood loss, the fatal injury catching up to the frail man. Perhaps something more too Gravus (an alchemist of skill in his own right) realizes, the enraged vitality that potion gave him must be wearing off, accelerating his descent into the void even faster. Light headed, the old man is in a semi-delirious state now: "Before Erkin came, I was nothing. He taught me the dark secrets of Erythnul. Made me powerful."
Titus has a sudden thought and races out of the building to the west, and looks all around the roof and surrounding area for the creature he threw a rock at. Maybe that is Erkin.
The tiny dark fey creature did have goblin-esque traits: the ears, the face, the wickedness. Titus races out as fast as his grave injuries allow him to: the foul familiar is nowhere to be seen.
Diagoras is losing it, weakly trying to reach out to the dead hag on the floor: "Glaba! Glaba!"
Valeriana looks severely at Bjarturius.
"So that's the service you performed Severina Berinia? Is this then all your fault? I was concerned I might have goaded Severina too skilfully. What is this Eye? And what could it have to do with your friends' poisoning? There are many antidotes to poison - some of them even work."
Bjarturius looks at Valeriana. He considers a moment, a frown on his face, as he makes the Great Club turn in his big hand, and then nods several times in acquiescence. In his deep voice, he answers as if he had a revelation: "Yes! I see it nov! The Lort of Might sent me tis trial to finish vat I started. Ve didn't testroy te Eye, ve prought it to te Domina, so ve vould pe paid..." he nods vigorously... After a moment, he adds more pensively: "Put vhy nov te priest has it, not te Domina?"
He turns, looking down at the bloot of Erythnul for a moment, and the dying priest. "Ant nov, my sister is paying for tis. And te warrior-maiten, and eferypody, ve hat to fight!"
Going closer to Velada to see how she is, he smiles gently on her, trying to hide his worry from her... "Sister! Don't vorry! I vill fint tis cure, if I hafe to pattle Erytnul himself! Fight te poison, ve vill fight togeter!"
Turning to Gravus, he asks: "Can you look at vat's here? Maype find someting to help?"
Looking to the sky, then back to the injured group, he adds: "Ve can rest close to here, to see if te little creature comes pack. Tomorrov vhen te sun rises, I vill ask for Korud's blessing after tis trial, so He returns our strengfh back..."
Valeriana points to a spot .
"Ballio. Sit there. Do not move."
She looks at Valka, leaning against the wall and the serious wounds that Titus and Gravus bear.
"One old priest and a goblin hag all but bested you?"
She picks up the orb from the floor and studies it.
"I would guess that this," she prods the fallen priest with her foot, "told the Domina of this 'Eye' and she had you secure it for him in order to wreak her petty vengeances. Though who was using who is not to be known. Does that match with the beginnings of the curses, not including the innkeeper who is probably blaming others for his own misfortune?"
Valeriana scans the ruin, a curl of her lip indicating what she thinks of it.
"I am amazed that even for vengeance Severina Berinia would deign to set foot in this place. Yet why else would she mark the trail here with the Furies? Likely she has a hidden way into her home, but if this creature knows of no antidote, Severina surely will not."
The noblewoman catches herself.
"I don't know why I'm explaining this to you, you surely lack the wit to understand."
Valeriana's eyes un-focus.
"...as the sun was beginning to beat upon the fields, fresh-risen from the slow still currents of Oceanus, they came to a mountain dell. The dogs were in front searching for the tracks of the beast they were chasing, and after them came the sons of Autolycus..."
"Of course," the dwarf says, giving the large priest a somber nod, "I shall see what I can find; if the cure was here, it is likely that Diagoras here would have known about it, but there may be some clue."
"I have had some training in the sciences of healing, perhaps when we set down tonight I might tend to the wounds suffered today, given me Domina's permission, of course," he looks over to Valka questioningly, deciding that the reticence she displayed towards treatment earlier suggests that she might be reluctant to allow such a thing.
While waiting reply, Gravus tosses the weapon in his hand carelessly onto the body of its previous owner, and begins to rummage though the contents of the room for anything that might provide some insight into what brews the hermetical follower of Erythnul may have concocted, paying little notice to Valeriana's comments during his search until the sudden shift in her tone catches his attention.
Ballio sits next to the statue as instructed. The Orb, the “Eye of Erythius”, is a foot in diameter of weights about 5 pounds.
Valeriana strolls around the premises, while Gravus busies himself rummaging through the room.
Dirty scrolls scribbled upon with a hasty hand, lead tablets, ingredients of all sorts: these are things that catch the interest of the Dwarf. He spots a wooden box etched with markings and symbols. Inside, a lead tablet is carefully laid out along with a dead snake, various herbs, some bloodied cloth, a few bones and dried organic matter added in the mix. The lead tablet is an exact duplicate of the one found at Ferto's domus.
Valka tries to REST as much as she can!!
When Gravus talks about the science of Healing, she says:
"You can tend to my wounds if you have skill in that. Just ... uhhhh ... watch the hands! Also if you can check the place for proof about the curse of Nikanor: I want to get paid for all this! And while your at it make a inventory of all that can be worth something that we can take with us."
To everyone:
"What do we do about that tiny creature? Gravus said we have 6 days to go until that goblin poison does its thing, right Gravus? That means we can't sit around and do nothing. And I don't want to stay here longer then I have to in case Severina wants to make a move."
Having walked slowly around the temple Valeriana returns to the enclosed area and looks over Gravus at the dying (dead?) priest's belongings.
"Six days? That is an unusually precise prognosis, dwarf. The woman looks like she will barely last the night, what makes you think she has a week?"
She looks down at the injured warrior.
"Timoneus Nikanor is not cursed. He is merely a credulous fool. Probably those daughters he claims are not even his." Her voice contains bitterness and an apparently unwarranted hostility to the innkeeper. "Carve some gibberish and his name onto another tablet and present it to him as the proof you need."
She stops and looks around.
"Where has the Milite gone?"
She stares past Bjarturius and her lips move all-but silently, then she smiles sardonically, whispers something unheard, picks up a fallen satchel and stows the orb in it.
Bjarturius looks at Valeriana when she speaks, a growing puzzled look on his face as she finishes. Some of what she says seems beyond him, indeed... He comments on the first part: "Tis temple... You sait it is defovtet to Roneus! Maype ve find a priest of Roneus, he helps us against te poison!"
Then to Ballio: "Ballio. Ve came back vit te Eye ant gafe it to te Domina, nov te priest has it... So maype she vas here... Vho protects her in those hills?"
To the whole group, he asks: "Te koplin, maype he comes pack vit oters! Maype Erkin! Better ve go from here but not too far, ten vho can track?"
Finally, he says to Gravus: "I vill pray to Korud, to get some of His sight for te trufh of tings! Put everyting you fount here". He starts dragging the dead bodies to a corner spot After this is done, he retreats to the entrance of the "room" and, touching the eight-pointed star, says, eyes to the sky:"Kolossal Korud! Jag ber om din verkliga syn!" He then looks carefully about the whole room and everything in it...
"Yes Domina," Gravud nods to Valka, "there is a potion, much like the one the priest imbibed during the combat, and some oils which immediately spring to notice, but I shall see to a more comprehensive list."
"And I appreciate your permission," he adds, "I would much rather not be 'inherited' by Severina Berinia. While I'm sure she'd appreciate me talents for a while, I've no doubt it would only be a matter of time before she decided I'd be more interesting with me organs more visible, or something similarly unpleasant."
The dwarf then looks up from his search to answer Valeriana's question. "As ye are no doubt well aware," he says levelly, "things are not always what they appear to be, while this poison is terrible indeed, in every case of it I have heard of, the patient has not expired due to its effects far from seven days from initial exposure. The lass may look near death, but even now there is still a chance she may make full recovery without intervention... though with each passing hour, that becomes more and more unlikely."
At Bjarturius' instructions, Gravus lays out what he has found for the priest to view more easily.
"Do you speak of Manricus' 'seven paces to the tomb'? That hasn't been heard of for over two centuries. The secret died with him." She pauses and her eyes widen slightly. "I believe he died in Loutharnium." She gestures widely and stops. "I don't know which direction it is. Three days walk."
"I know it only by its dwarven name, Grenvidr Rukhsitaz," Gravus replies, "but the time of its disappearance matches with what I have read on the matter, so it may well be the same. I've never heard of this Manricus though."
Ballio, trying to be forgotten, is surprised to be talked to. He answers the Priest of Kord simply, his eyes lowered: "If Domina Severina comes here or in the Hills I have no knowledge of it and doubt anyone ..." His voice trails off, then "Mithridates, maybe Mithridates would know Dominus"
"Manricus was a Warrior Priest of Hextor. He conquered the goblin tribes of this region and led them against his foes during his lifetime. He destroyed many of his enemies with a poison unknown before and since, it allegedly took exactly seven days to kill hence 'seven paces'. I do not know of any ever surviving it."
Valeriana realises she is talking to the slave and shuts up.
Titus returns from his brief external survey. The creature, whatever it was, seems to have fled.
Was the cure found here, or what are the next steps we should follow?
Valka gets up very slowly using the wall to help her. She says to Titus:
"Titus, do you have 5 Denarius on you?"
She walks up to Gravus slowly, looking at what he's done (if he found valuable or interesting stuff):
"Gravus, what did you find? Is there a cure for the poison? Anything about the Curse? Nikanor? Severina?"
Finally she takes a random dirty scroll and the wood box and walks over to Ballio. She shows him both:
"Can you read this?"