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Thanks to the protective charm provided by Mr. Peppers wand, Uesugi resists his mind being dominated, and then he and Gallix continue to lay waste to the shadow demon with the help of his magical crown.
The Succubus pouts. "Oh dear, don't be shy. All that sword swinging and punch throwing... It is nice to take a break and relax with a gorgeous lady once in a while, don't you think?" The succubus leans forward to proudly display her bosom as she winds up another spell.
"So. You there, with the sandy hair. Drop all of your weapons, get over here, and give me a kiss!" She says to Gallix with a seductive smile.
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Gallix cocks his head to the side as the demon crooks a finger at him. "You know, you're not really my type," he says, "But I can appreciate that you are beautiful, and it's only right for beautiful people to be together."' Entranced by the spell, he moves toward the succubus.
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"I'm not your type?" The succubus whispers into Gallix's ear. She brings his hand up to her mouth and bites his finger. "Don't be shy. I'm not going to hurt you, my dear. That much."
-- Bold is up --
Gallix, Sir D
Mr. Peppers, Sirettis (panicked, 8 rounds), Stali (panicked, 8 rounds)
Succubus
Uesugi (-3)
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"Gah, you're interrupting us! Rude!" The succubus groans as D zaps her with a double dose of negative energy. "Now, come here, dear..." The succubus wraps her arms - and legs - around Gallix.
-- Bold is up --
Gallix (grappled), Sir D
Mr. Peppers, Sirettis (panicked, 7 rounds), Stali (panicked, 7 rounds)
Succubus (-49, grappling)
Uesugi (-3)
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Gallix shoves the succubus off with such force that she nearly falls over. "No, dear, we aren't done here!" She balks. Gallix hops back and throws a punch that cracks her jaw, causing her to scream in pain, and another three punches that sends her toppling into a shelf.
But it's not enough to simply knock out a demon, is it? D leans in and fries her corpse with two more negative energy blasts.
The intense fear plaguing Sirettis and Stali's minds fades, and they're back to normal.
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Mr Peppers reverses time for a moment and pulls the magical bolts of energy back into his fingers, almost as if he was just pretending to cast them. "What? Can't everyone do that?" He shrugs.
He takes a look over the succubus corpse for anything exciting (and magical!), as well as the rest of the immediate area as he waits for the others to return. "Don't worry, they'll come to their senses within a minute and likey return. Although I must admit I don't know the new guy so well. Sirettis will be back. I suggest you 'make sure' this woman is dead Uesugi, and keep an eye out about that other shadow demon. Demons are tricky..."
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<Now calm down. Your friends need you.>
"Yes, they do. You're right." Sirettis stands up and calms herself. "Stali, we must return. Quickly."
She heads down to meet her allies. "I am so sorry. The- I was overtaken by fear. It looks like you were successful."
"Sir Uesugi. Do you require any kind of healing? You seem slightly injured."
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Feeling the panic suddenly lift off him, Stali blinks. That isn’t normal...
Looking to Sirettis, he asks “Were we just tricked by magic? If so, it is a form of magic I do not care for.”
He quickly picks himself up and starts gliding down the stairs after Sirettis. He uses his wayfinder to light the path.
——
When he gets back to the chambers where he left the others, he apologizes “I am sorry for having run away like that, it is not something I would normally do.”
Picking up the dueling sword he had dropped, he then looks at the bodies. “So what are these things and are we likely to find more?”
Given my luck so far, probably a whole group of them.
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"The thing that feared you was a shadow demon. The one with the bloodied ample cleavage that Gallix was busy lip mugging is a Succubus. She was likely the source of the dominated clerics, as she tried the same trick on Uesugi. If there are more then we will soon find out." He gives everyone a thorough look over with detect magic, making sure they don't have any lingering out of place spells on them.
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Mr. Peppers and Stali examine the bodies and room. The archive room shows sign of recent damage, with shelves smashed and singed, and books lying in scattered piles, torn, tattered, and burnt. The succubus and shadow demon's remains contain little of value.
At the north, east, and south end of the room are alcoves centered with statues of Cayden Cailean. Examining the statues, you find a secret latch tucked under the left arm of each.
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"I see." Sirettis looks at the demon. "She was most likely responsible."
That is what I fear. I can manipulate people's minds, but am I someone's puppet? Am I your puppet?
<I see now... I didn't realize. I will have much to speak to you about later. For now though, let us move >
Sirettis takes her time examining the statues.
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Looking at the damaged and destroyed books, Stali turns to Mr. Peppers and asks “Is there anything you can do to figure out if there was a specific topic they were focusing on? It could be just random books they were destroying, but if there is a pattern it would be nice to know.”
He then spends a minute or so examining each of the statues and the immediate area around them.
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D. takes a look at the now discolored succubus corpse.
"Gallix, i do not understand what is so appealing to westerners, about such a provocatively dressed woman. Back in Tian-Xia, women have style or a sense of fashion at all times."
"Her looks aside, you are still ok? Nothing contracted?"
Gallix swipes his thumb across his lips, a look of fury still on his face. When he turns to face D as the Tien nobleman asks his questions, he eyes are those of a man set on murder. His gaze softens, however, as he realizes his enemies have been dispatched. He clears his throat and answers his friend, "I don't know what to tell you about 'women' like that, D. Maybe sometime we'll travel to your homeland together and you can show me what beauty looks like there. For now, yeah, I'm okay. Managed to shake her off before she could really sink her fangs into me." He shudders with anger and disgust as he looks down at the body of the demon once again, then turns to the rest of his companions. "Anyway, let's get moving."
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Mr. Peppers closely examines the books. They contain numerous writings compiled by Baldimar and his colleagues, as well as his expert contacts.
Most of the records concern demonic studies, though some focus on other outsiders.
He also locates two scrolls of lesser restoration when in the top drawer of the desk.
Stali's eyes are sharp, and he finds two secret doors inside the room.
He's able to trace a mechanism from all three statues that links each of them to either a secret door, or to the doors you had entered in from. Moving a latch should open the corresponding door.
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When Sirettis suggests a door, Stali goes over to the latch for it and stands ready to trigger it. He once again has his cold iron sword at the ready.
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"We're certainly in the right place. This is Baldimar's library it seems." He pulls out the pair of scrolls and waves them in the air before casting a spell and taking a quick read.
"Lessor restoration. They will remove damage to the mind or body. As such done by poisons or some types of the dead." He hands them both to Sirettis, making the assumption that she can use them easily.
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While Sirettis and Stali investigate the statues and the hidden passages concealed behind them, and while Peppers catches up on some reading, Gallix attends to the practical matter of switching out his mithral cestus for his cold iron one. "Cold iron for demons, right?" he asks his studious elven friend. "I wanna make sure my punches count for something when I clock 'em."
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Nope, and nothing that would indicate whether the other two doors are trapped.
After inspecting the latch closely, Stali pulls it down and across. The bookshelf nearest Sirettis slides open, revealing a set of stairs descending further into the temple. A noxious, burning smell rises up from below.
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"Yes. Cold iron. Usually." The Elf replies, face still in a book. He waves his hand and another levitates over from the floor. "Are you sure you need me to accompany you further? Perhaps I'm most useful here..." Yet a third book promptly floats over from another shelf and stacks itself neatly on top of the second. If only we had a librarian here to dust and reorganize these sloppy book shelves. And make me some tea. I do miss her tea.
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Uesugi carefully steps down the stairs first. The remnants of a large laboratory lie in splintered ruin, a bizarre sculpture of strange cogs, split beams, smashed furniture, and dunes of broken glass. Everything is splattered with chemical stains and compounds, and a toxic reek fills the air.
The ground here is covered in enough broken glass that unless you moved carefully, you surely would step on something sharp.
As Uesugi, Stali, and Gallix are first to step inside the laboratory, a potent mixture of fumes fills their lungs, causing them to cough uncontrollably.
A long set of stairs to your north leads back up from the laboratory.
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Stali starts hacking uncontrollably as he enters the room. Not deterred, he glances around and quickly goes over to open a panel under some rubble. He balances along the broken beams and other unstable surfaces to avoid the glass. As he moves, he gestures towards the north wall.
I will most likely be quaffing an antitoxin soon after that.
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Seeing how no one seemed to agree with his statement, Tall, Dark, and disappointed follows behind the leaders down the stairs, stopping short as the smell of toxic fumes assault his delicate nose. "Good Gods! This place is trashed... and stinks to high heavens!" He looks in from the stairway. He can't see the room very well from his vantage point, but casts mage hand to grab anything that seems interesting, especially something written or unsmashed vials.