Do or Die (Part 1)
Log Info
- Title: Do or Die (Part 1)
- Emitter: Zeke
- Characters: Mikilos, Seldan, Malik, Aya, Serene, Aryia, Faranth, Jinks, Paenitia, Mercy, Seyardu
- Place: Sage Orum's Plaza
- Time: Sunday, August 15, 2021, 3:55 PM
- Summary: In the Temple of Daes, a portal is open to a street full of screams. Nearby adventurers are already answering 'the call'. There is a Totem of some sort, of bodies bound together necromantically, and nearby zombies, spreading through the streets. Battle ensues, with two groups divided by barriers and walls of force. Malik casts Haste, then a force hand to hold the totem as it and the zombies bash at the protective barrier the Vardamans, and then Seldan, put up. Serene sees the commotion and she and Silver swoop in, channeling healing. Seldan and Mikilos attempt to understand the nature of this enemy, and working together determine there is something empowering it. Aya punches through, pulling a statuette out. The Totem of body parts falls, as do all the zombies. The adventurers from down the street congregate. In the confusion, Aya holds onto the statue too long and it overwhelms her mind. She vanishes. Serene, Seldan and Aryia take off to search for her, while the remaining adventurers try to figure out what just happened.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Appearing, in Order -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Mikilos 6'8" 180 Lb Dawn Elf Male Tall male dawn elf, rosey blonde and handsome. Seldan 5'11" 187 Lb Human Male Ginger-blonde human in armor wearing Eluna's symbol. Malik 6'2" 195 Lb Human Male A sandy-haired tsuran with blue eyes. Aya 4'7" 105 Lb Shadow Elf Female Mul'niessa. Braided hair. Simple clothing. Serene 6'2" 175 Lb Eldanar/Charn Female Glacier meets granite meets strawberries. -=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=- -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Appearing, after the battle =-=-=-=-=-= Aryia 4'8" 110 Lb Shadow Elf Female A heavily scarred mul with a tired look about her. Faranth 6'3" 217 Lb Sith-Makar Female Silver scaled Sith-Makar, piercing wisdom in her eyes. Paenitia 3'0" 34 Lb Halfling Female A Lucht knight, dark skinned in bold feathery finery. Mercy 5'5" 150 Lb Human Female A platinum haired Aesir woman, in flamboyant black. Seyardu 5'6" 150 Lb Sith-Makar Female A friendly silver sith-makar with a perpetual squint. -=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--= -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= As the GM =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Zeke 6'8" 239 Lb Sith-Makar Male A blue-scaled sith-makar in white Daeus vestments -=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=
With a whirl of magic, a gate is formed between the Temple of Daeus and the street that Seldan lives on. This doorway lets loose with the sound of screams an chanting and you hurry through to the other side. It takes a moment for your eyes and ears to resolve the scene before you. A wall of undead are pressed against an invisible barrier being held up by some priests of Vardama, but their number is few and already some of them have fallen to the surprise of being attacked. What's really the most noticeable thing however is the totem pole-esk monstrosity formed of bodies. Arms. Legs. Heads. No single body whole but it moves to crash through the barrier time and again, throwing clerics around like rag dolls.
Mikilos was just out for a nice walk. It'd had been a lovely, quiet day, with no real problems or drama. That really should have tipped him off, but the wizard was still surprised when the yelling started. Swiftly making his way towards the noise, Mikilos draws his blade and blinks at the wall of undead. "....where the hells did they come from??"
GAME: Malik casts Haste. Caster Level: 16 DC: 19
It's about at this point that a number of people abruptly teleport in, in front of a particular house on this quiet, tree-lined street. Seldan is at their center, his own hands free to complete the complex gestures and incantations required to invoke the spell. The world untwists, unbends, and resolves into this place, and the paladin staggers a step as the casting completes. They are safe, and from the look of satisfaction he wears when he looks up, he's where he meant to be. "The precessional matrix is much simpler here," he tells Malik, turning to the darker-haired man.
He's about to say more, when he catches sight of the living totem pole bashing into the invisible wall, and all other considerations get dropped on the cobblestones as Reunion slides free from its sheath. His even features twist now with holy fury at the tableau before him, and he strides forward a step, snarling, "ECLAVDRAN! By Eluna's holy path through the night sky, you shall pay, and dearly, for this," amid the rasp of leather and metal. "In Eluna's holy name, I shall see your little toy destroyed!"
Someone is all out of bubblegum.
Malik is getting more and more used to the various twisting, churning energies that connect two distant points. This time, in fact, he only manages to look a little green, rather than looking like he's going to lose whatever he ate earlier. Progress is being made!
He's got enough of his faculties to take a quick survey of the scene, though, hands moving into the vest he keeps as he pulls out a sliver of licorice root, placing it inside his cheek with a wince as his hands make a complicated mudra, calling down various speeding energies upon any and all in the vicinity that look even remotely like they could be of use here.
Normally, it's polite to ask before conscripting others. But when there's a wall of undead only barely contained, well. He'll apologize later. Maybe.
Aya has only a vague idea of what to expect when Seldan's spell relocates them. This... both does and does not fit that expectation. Regardless, rather atypically, she arms herself, now, with a relatively simple wooden stave. Perhaps she doesn't relish the idea of jamming her hands into mobile dead flesh? It is some relief that the Vardamen did, indeed, note the problem, though it seems that "They and the barrier will not stand for long!" It may be conspicuous and obvious, but still worth noting.
Serene is often in the skies. For one, it makes it a little easier to spy trouble from a higher vantage point, and Silver is both smart enough and experienced enough to be an exceptional aid in the that regard. For another, it's simply enjoyable. And yet another.. well, it's times like this that make a good argument for subtle, divine nudgings for her current heading and angle put her in a fairly good position to both hear and see the trouble at the Sage Orum's Plaza. It helps also that it seems to be a fairly large to-do. Silver needs little urging to bank and dive, bringing his paladin closer to the trouble.
GAME: Aya spends TWO points of KI POOL. GAME: Aya rolls weapon19: (14)+22: 36 GAME: Aya rolls weapon19+4: (8)+22+4: 34 GAME: Aya rolls weapon19+4: (12)+22+4: 38 GAME: Aya rolls weapon19+4: (12)+22+4: 38 GAME: Aya rolls weapon19+4-5: (13)+22+4+-5: 34 GAME: Aya rolls weapon19+4-10: (7)+22+4+-10: 23 GAME: Aya rolls weapon19+4-15: (12)+22+4+-15: 23 GAME: Aya rolls 1d6+7: (6)+7: 13 GAME: Aya rolls 1d6+7: (5)+7: 12 GAME: Aya rolls 1d6+7: (3)+7: 10
If the Vardamen are maintaining the barrier, and the totem is harrying and/or demolishing the Vardamen, then the prudent course of action is to interrupt the totem. Aya vanishes from where she stood, only to reappear opposite the totem to string. Then at its flank. Followed by the other, and then another. It may have more limbs and/or heads than the average foe, but it might still be disoriented by the varying sources. In the end, only a few strike to before she returns to her original position.
GAME: Seldan casts Wall of Force. Caster Level: 16 DC: 23
"My thanks for that, Mal," Seldan shouts above the sounds of battle, as best he can, raising his voice to be heard. Aya has already vanished, so he calls, "Mal, with me! The rest of you, keep the horde off of us, we shall destroy the tower!"
First things first, though. He raises a gauntleted hand and traces several complex patterns in the air, all interlocking, then shouts an arcane incantation. Ancient sigils appear before him in soft blue-white-silver fire, the glow casting a paler light on the already alabaster skin. A final phrase, and he points the gauntleted finger at the Vardamen.
In an instant, the sigils vanish, to reappear between the beleaguered Vardamen and the crumbling barrier, twisting, swirling, forming themselves into another barrier just behind it. Bought time. One hopes that it is enough.
So saying, he takes off at a run towards the thing, Reunion in his other hand. "Reunion, wake. Eclavdran and his works walk again, stand with me now!"
GAME: Malik casts Enemy Hammer. Caster Level: 16 DC: 22 GAME: Zeke rolls 1d20+16: (12)+16: 28 GAME: Malik rolls 1d20+16+6: (19)+16+6: 41
Malik looks for all the world like he's ready to draw his bow on instinct, even starting to reach for an arrow. But a moment's consideration makes him abandon that plan, watching the giant tower of body parts moving through the crowd, a slow smile forming on his face.
"Alright, then," he says, pulling down his hood and shaking out his arms. "You want to play with magic? Let's play with some magic."
A quick, complicated mudra is formed, and he reaches out with both hands toward the tower -- which is suddenly seized as effectively as if he were holding on to the thing itself.
"Mine," he whispers, jerking his arms to the side like he were physically hauling the thing around -- and the thing jerks to the side as if it were physically hauled in the same way, flattening a few zombies in the process.
It's not often that the wizard -- well. Wizards. But apparently he has a few tricks up his sleeve.
GAME: Zeke rolls 1d20+35: (8)+35: 43
Silver continues his dive, then slams his wings out to brake his fall, driving Serene into the saddle as dust and leaves and other detritus scatter at his coming. Once his fall is arrested, his rider produces a slim, silver rod in the palm of her shield hand... and just as quickly it is gone again, having assisted her minor spell. Then, gripping her silver disc of Eluna with her other hand, Serene channels light.. a pure, silver light that pulses outwards, restoring vigour and health to those near her.
GAME: Zeke rolls 1d20+35: (14)+35: 49 GAME: Zeke rolls 1d20+35: (9)+35: 44 GAME: Zeke rolls 1d20+35: (4)+35: 39 GAME: Zeke rolls 1d20+35: (6)+35: 41 GAME: Zeke rolls 2d8+17: (4)+17: 21 GAME: Zeke rolls 2d8+17: (9)+17: 26 GAME: Zeke rolls 2d8+17: (14)+17: 31 GAME: Zeke rolls 2d8+17: (13)+17: 30 GAME: Zeke rolls 2d8+17: (10)+17: 27
As the wall of force that Seldan summoned begins to crack the tower of bodies crawls toward Aya, bashing the poor monk over and over with its flailing limbs until she's beaten and bloodied. It emits a low growling laugh as it does so, a noise which causes your skin to crawl.
GAME: Mikilos casts Contagious Flame. Caster Level: 15 DC: 25 GAME: Mikilos rolls 1d20+9+3: (6)+9+3: 18 GAME: Mikilos rolls 1d20+9+3: (19)+9+3: 31 GAME: Mikilos rolls 1d20+9+3: (19)+9+3: 31 GAME: Mikilos rolls 1d20+9+3: (2)+9+3: 14 GAME: Aya spends TWO points of KI POOL.
Mikilos takes a few moments to access the situation before murmuring a quick incantation. Four bolts of magic fire launch from the wizard, racing toward the zombie-stack, but the magic fails to catch on the monstrosity.
Aya is familiar with defending against rapid strikes from various limbs. What is less common are strikes from different limbs and different directions simultaneously, and she is battered about between them. She vanishes once more, behind the line of those armored. "Be wary..." after wiping blood from her nose and lip and guarding a possibly broken rib, she calls the shadows to her. Rather than her travelling through them, they animate from various spots nearby and move to her. They slide across her form, darkening her even further as they form an ebon second skin.
GAME: Seldan casts Know the Enemy. Caster Level: 8 DC: 19 GAME: Seldan rolls knowledge/arcana: (1)+18: 19 (EPIC FAIL) GAME: Seldan rolls knowledge/arcana: (14)+18: 32 GAME: Malik rolls 1d20+22: (19)+22: 41 GAME: Zeke rolls 1d20+16: (15)+16: 31
Just outside that thing's reach, Seldan stops, his free hand reaching for the crescent and sphere at his throat. "Eluna, show me how I may conquer this evil," he whispers, them stares up at it. Silver-white light flashes around him, and he shouts, "It's a construct! Something is powering it from the outside, find and break its power source! I shall try to unmake it!"
Malik continues to struggle with the towering giant, digging his heels into the ground. And it continues to struggle against him, even as he jerks it once more in a direction of his choosing, obliterating more of the undead with its sheer mass.
When Seldan makes that call, though, he calls "A little occupied at the moment! I nominate another!"
GAME: Serene rolls 1d20+20+5+5+12: (12)+20+5+5+12: 54 GAME: Serene rolls 1d20+20+5+5+12-5: (11)+20+5+5+12+-5: 48 GAME: Serene rolls 1d20+20+5+5+12-10: (7)+20+5+5+12+-10: 39 GAME: Serene rolls 1d20+20+5+5+12-15: (16)+20+5+5+12+-15: 43 GAME: Serene rolls 1d20+20+5+1+12: (18)+20+5+1+12: 56 GAME: Serene rolls 1d20+20+5+1+12-5: (11)+20+5+1+12+-5: 44 GAME: Serene rolls 1d20+20+5+1+12-10: (6)+20+5+1+12+-10: 34 GAME: Serene rolls 1d20+17: (10)+17: 27 GAME: Serene rolls 1d8+5+5+2d6+20: (5)+5+5+(6)+20: 41 GAME: Serene rolls 1d8+5+5+2d6+20: (2)+5+5+(5)+20: 37 GAME: Serene rolls 1d8+5+5+2d6+20: (6)+5+5+(11)+20: 47 GAME: Serene rolls 1d8+5+5+2d6+20: (4)+5+5+(11)+20: 45 GAME: Serene rolls 1d3+2+1+20: (3)+2+1+20: 26 GAME: Serene rolls 1d3+2+1+20: (2)+2+1+20: 25 GAME: Serene rolls 1d3+2+1+20: (3)+2+1+20: 26 GAME: Serene rolls heal: (20)+13: 33 GAME: Zeke rolls 1d20+35: (8)+35: 43 GAME: Zeke rolls 1d20+35: (9)+35: 44 GAME: Zeke rolls 1d20+35: (1)+35: 36 (EPIC FAIL) GAME: Zeke rolls 1d20+35: (9)+35: 44 GAME: Zeke rolls 1d20+35: (5)+35: 40 GAME: Zeke rolls 2d8+17: (10)+17: 27 GAME: Zeke rolls 2d8+17: (12)+17: 29
The tower of flesh is falling apart in places, but still manages to attack Serene viciously. Its many mouths making a cacophony of terrible laughing noises. Meanwhile Seldan's barrier falls and the smaller zombies rush out to attack the line of other adventurers and Vardamen who stand as the last line of defense.
Silver doesn't really stop.. the moment Serene's healing is sent out, the gryphon pushes off again, mighty wings pounding into the air to bring the pair straight into the nightmarish blend of bodies and.. more bodies. Past its flailing limbs, the two streak in not quite like a bolt of silver light, sword cutting and shield bashing against flesh that by all rights should be coming apart... but held yet together. Results confirming Seldan's conclusions, Serene yells from amidst the monster's grasping limbs, "Do what you must to undo it!"
GAME: Mikilos casts Detect Magic. Caster Level: 15 DC: 19 GAME: Mikilos rolls 1d20+15+9: (2)+15+9: 26 GAME: Mikilos rolls 1d20+15+9: (20)+15+9: 44
Mikilos hears Seldan's information, and steps back, murmuring a quick incantation to change his perspective. Watching a moment, the elf frowns, then blinks hard, shouting. "At it's center! There's a totem, or doll, or something, about the size of my hand!" Size of most hands. Mikilos has average sized hands, just to be clear.
GAME: Seyardu rolls 3d6: (13): 13 GAME: Aya spends TWO points of KI POOL. GAME: Aya rolls weapon0+3: (12)+24+3: 39 GAME: Aya rolls weapon0+3+4: (4)+24+3+4: 35 GAME: Aya rolls weapon0+3+4: (7)+24+3+4: 38 GAME: Aya rolls weapon0+3+4: (20)+24+3+4: 51 (THREAT) GAME: Aya rolls weapon0+3+4: (20)+24+3+4: 51 (THREAT) GAME: Aya rolls weapon0+3+4-5: (2)+24+3+4+-5: 28 GAME: Aya rolls weapon0+3+4--10: (4)+24+3+4+-+-10: 25 GAME: Aya rolls weapon0+3+4-15: (14)+24+3+4+-15: 30 GAME: Aya rolls damage0+2: aliased to 2d10+6+2: (9)+6+2: 17 GAME: Aya rolls damage0+2: aliased to 2d10+6+2: (12)+6+2: 20 GAME: Aya rolls damage0+2: aliased to 2d10+6+2: (8)+6+2: 16 GAME: Aya rolls damage0+2: aliased to 2d10+6+2: (12)+6+2: 20 GAME: Aya rolls damage0+2: aliased to 2d10+6+2: (13)+6+2: 21
Aya's stave did not prove productive, aside from keeping her hands clean. As it's mentioned that it has some form of internal power, Aya frowns. At least she knows a good bathhouse... "I will try to find it..."
She vanishes anew, and reappears near the totem again, not unlike before. This time, however, she strikes with only her hands. While the punches are swift, and possibly ...squelchy, each fist lingers momentarily to grope blindly for something, causing her to alternate fists. When she does touch something that seems unusual (at least more so than an animated grotesque monstrosity of limbs?), she grasps firmly to yank it free.
She holds in her hand a figurine of stone it seems. A figurine of a fertility statue, with unnatural proportions. The head and limbs are mere suggestions of shape, and once it is freed from the monstrosity of limbs the thing falls apart. Laughing all the while it's jagged laughter. "Your fault, your fault, your fault." Echoes its many voices. All of them mocking, mocking, mocking.
GAME: Seldan rolls 6d6: (15): 15
Serene is not in.. a great place when the corpse-totem falls apart. Her shield goes reflexively upwards, an attempt to deflect the worst of it.. and Silver does make a wing-assisted leap backwards to carry himself and his rider free... but still. Gross.
Mikilos hesitates as the mass falls apart. This has a 'trap' feel. But after several moments of no activity, physical or magical, the elf relaxes, looking to Seldan. "I get the impression this wasn't a random event. What happened?"
Malik almost falls straight onto his ass when the thing he's been holding onto with magic suddenly disintegrates into its various constituent parts. That's the thing about magic, after all. No target, no spell. But he manages to catch himself, looking around at the carnage as he hears the whispering voices coming from the totem.
His mouth presses into a thin line, and he moves to Seldan's side, flashing the man a dark look as he surveys the corpses lined up in front of their house.
"I think it's time that we find ourselves elsewhere," he tells the man. Especially as Mikilos and the others draw closer, questioning. "Before more get added to the pile."
Seldan is at least in a little better place, such that the corpse-totem falls clear of him - mostly, at any rate. One enterprising arm bounces clear of the fracas and into his left greave, where the mess instantly melts away against the enchantments on the moonlit armor. It still lies at his feet, though, now a lifeless sith-makar claw in deepest green lying against his boot.
When Malik arrives, he has just put his hands together, rote prayers slipping from his lips as the crescent and sphere symbol wrapped over them begins to glow palest silver. The gentle glow bounces off the armor and adds to the effect, as a wave of healing washes over all present who are close enough to him. He does not answer until that is done, then looks up. "We should speak, and the Vardamen are owed answers." The hands drop, the healing allowing him to breathe a little easier as well after the swift spell he'd cast when Serene was struck, and his eyes lower, the set of his shoulders screaming guilt beneath the armor. "The fault is mine. Many were hurt, for my failure to look more closely. Truly am I a fool."
Aya may be able to avoid some of the collapse of the totem, but that doesn't make her hands or clothing any less covered with ... stuff. She stares at the statuette in her hand as the laughter and accusations fade. This is hardly the first time she has been accused without details, but this is more unsettling than most.
As some already speak of leaving, she looks to the others; notably the Paladins, magi, and Vardamen, in that order. "What should be done with -this?- It shouldn't be left, but I don't want to hold it any longer than necessary."
As the undead fall apart, or at least fall down, the adventurers conglomerate upon a single shinning beacon. Namely Seldan. His moonlit armor drawing all eyes, and Paenitia's words that he might have some answers draw those that had been fighting on the fringes to him. Including the leader of the Vardamen who was direction those clerics here during the fight. He looks... something the worse for wear, but not injured.
A small Red Knight astride an Ivory Steed arrives from the other end of the street, heading in from the Sage Orum plaza.
Her Ivory Steed, a brilliantly white peacock-gypsy-andalusian hippogryph, picks his way through the gore, and is spattered in gore.
His rider, wears rusty red armour, a wide brimmed hat, and a stylized mask of a smiling man's face. She is a Lucht, and announces herself, "Hola! Sir Seldan? We have prevail and I bring the allies you ask for."
"They await the explanations, that they do not already know."
Mercy ambles in behind the rest of Paenitia and crew humming the bard's song of courage to herself. The black and silver clad Inquisitor adjusts her Deaus emblazoned cape overtop her crossbow collection.
A scarred mul'neissa with her hands and legs coated in ash of disintegrated undead follows behind in the Red Knight's wake. Hale, but tense as she scans the area for anything else that might jump out. A nod is afforded towards Aya, her taking a step towards her kin.
Seyardu, once she finishes checking over those present, turns to those around where the towering totem fell. "If any of you need healing, please let me know." She offers to the group. She turns to Aya, and she speaks quickly again. "Drop that statue, now. It may attempt to control you, and bring the person who caused this here."
"What they're *owed*," Malik counters, "is to not get unwittingly caught in this particular net. And the more we engage, the more likely that becomes." He looks at the pile of bodies all around them, nodding, pointing out a few. "The begger I gave a gold to last week." That one the green-scaled sith. The torso of a woman with a prominent tattoo. "A notable pickpocket that I caught trying to take one of my scrolls. I offered to pay her for it in turn." A glance around, Malik able to point out six or seven of them, knowing their vague identities even from the *very* brief encounters. Others he can't point out -- but it's likely that Seldan can.
Reaching out his hand, though, he waves his fingers at Aya. "I'll take that," he tells her, opening up a pocket on his satchel. And from the look on his face, he's not in the mood for an argument about it.
Serene pulls pieces, large and small, from herself and Silver as the continues to back away, though at a slightly more leisurely pace. Then she slides out of the saddle. One hand kept on his neck, she steps closer to his head which he lowers down to her level.. a few low words, then a gentle head bump between the two, and she's stepping away so he can take flight. Then, shoulders squared, she turns to face the aftermath.. and to seek answers. Which, of course, has her gaze going towards Seldan.
GAME: Aya rolls will: (5)+8: 13
It may come to no surprise to many present, at least in some context, as Aya departs suddenly in a fading puff of Shadow. As Ayas are known to do.
GAME: Serene rolls perception: (5)+25: 30 GAME: Seldan rolls perception: (15)+7: 22
Faranth picks her way through the mass of bodies coming from the same direction that the red night had come from. Her companion, a young bull elephant, follows also. He is however less caring than Faranth about the bodies that are getting squished underfoot as he follows behind.
Seyardu reaches out to the shadow elf, but before she can, Aya disappears. She looks to those present. "Were none of you prepared for the fact that the statue might control her mind?" She asks those present, with a hint of anger. "You say you know these people. Perhaps this will be enough to stop the guard from not believing anything about these statues? But for now, we will need to clean this area. And look for Aya."
Mikilos blinks at Aya's sudden disappearance, frowning has he considers options. "...I don;t have any scrying or similar spells handy."
For the space of a breath - so fast that some may wonder whether they truly saw it - Seldan's expression crumples in on itself at Malik's words, as if the elaboration was a verbal strike across the face. A second later, it shifts again, into the impassive alabaster pillar that some here have seen a few times, his features losing all expression, his bearing straightening. He turns a little away from Malik, to face the others, as one prepared to answer for his crimes -
And Aya vanishes on being instructed to give up the totem. He starts, but by the time he catches on, there is nothing he can do. "I must find her," he tells the others. "It is as the Hearthguard says, and she must be stopped. Serene, you are here. Eclavdran has returned, and moves against me. This is his first strike." The explanation is brief, but he then turns to the Vardamen leader, and is again interrupted by Seyardu's proclamation. "Hearthguard, the first step was to stop that construct. It was impossible to see until it was pulled, and by then it was too late. Turn your anger on me, none other here deserve it."
The Vardaman priest shakes his head and looks at those assembled. "Blaming one another, and arguing are sure ways for the thing that sent this... abomination after the populace - to win." These quiet words of wisdom are all that the priest offers before nodding low to those that are well-known, then those that are lesser-known to him. "I will see to the peace of the dead. May they lie now in restful slumber."
Serene is already whistling sharply to attract her gryphon's attention.. his shadow looms as he descends once again. In the short time waiting for him, she listens to Seldan.. and at the enemy's name, her grim vizage tightens. Then she nods to him once, sharply.. by then Silver is stabilizing himself upon the cobbled street and she's swinging into his saddle. Her feet are barely in the stirrups before the pair are airborne once again, the mul monk their quarry.
Malik regrets the words almost as soon as he sees that expression. But his face, too, hardens a bit. It's a talk, for sure, that they can have later. Right now isn't the time.
Especially not as the other woman just *disappears* with the totem in her hand. He takes a deep, slow, calming breath, the string of tsuran curses surely on the tip of his tongue well-sequestered from becoming speech, though his eyes betray their escape route into his thoughts.
Tap, tap.
Paenitia knocks the cobbles near Seyardu's feet, to catch her attention. "Friend Dragon, the battle is done, the allies let the guard down, they do not expect the attack on their tactics."
She turns to face the Silverguard, high enough on Ramirez to look across at him, if not slightly down. Her face is completely hidden, her mask concealing all, and framed by curly black hair. She sounds cheerful enough, if teasing, and taps at the metal chin of her disguise, "I have a spare one of these my friend."
"I remember your warning and can share, if you must go, if the missing pieces can be fill in by those who fight the totem."
Aryia was just about to gesture to Aya, a light smile about to crest her face. But then that look crosses her fellow's visage. All she had time to mouth was, "No, please, don't-!" <Undercommon>
Her fingers slowly curl into a tremoring fist, eyes misting over. "F-ck. F-ck, f-ck, f-ck, f-ck, g-ds f-ck-g d- -t!" she sputters and hisses in frustration before coughing heavily into a hand. The scarred mul wipes the blood off on her shirt, turns, and tears off in a direction she thinks her countrymen went.
Is this what it was like to have friends? Her feet moved without thought, her mind burned with anger, and her focus was narrowed to a pinpoint.
"I understand, but this is the third time it has happened, from what I have heard." Seyardu sighs, the adrenaline wearing off as she sees Aryia sprint off. "How does this many go missing, with no action? It is not your faults, it is the faults of those who refuse to act. I understand Aya's disappearance, but what happened here, it is due to people not caring."
Seldan does not look at Malik, nor really at anyone else, his eyes looking from face to face, demeanor and bearing pillar-like and completely closed off. "It is as the Mourner says. We dare not divide. Neither is Malik wrong, and I would have all of you consider carefully, ere you choose to actively engage such a foe. Eclavdran is a Duke of the Hells, seeking to build a body upon this plane that allows him to walk in this world with his full power. Does this happen, none are safe, but especially are we not safe, for we have defied this one before, and his wrath targets us."
"Few in truth know of Eclavdran, and the truth of his nature and his power, for when first he became known to us, another threat stalked the city at the time." He does not elaborate. "The symbol is known to me, because I took up arms and opposed him as well, but few enough knew the truth, and of those who did, many lie dead." His tone is even, impassive, even stark, much as stone.
"I leave the choice to you, for it is as Malik says. Opposing such a one is a risk to life and limb, and all that you have. I cannot guarantee your safety, whether you choose to engage or nay, for does he succeed, the consequences will affect all of Ea."
Faranth glances behind her at the pulped devastation her companion is leaving behind and decides she doesn't need to meet the other people that had helped with the latest catastrophe. "Come MalGein, lets go back to what we were doing." She turns the elephant around carefully and leads him back the way they had come, trying to be more careful about where he put his feet for the return trip. <druidic>
Mikilos tsks. "I remember Eclavdran well, and doubt he's forgotten me. Maybe he considers our accounts settled, maybe not. He did leave me cut in half, so hard to say."
Paenitia looks over at Mikilos, "So this is the half-size of you, or the full size?"
Mikilos says, "....I got better."
The Red Knight laughs, facing the battle group, "I am Sister Paenitia Snapdragon del Haranna, Knight of the Pillar and Paladina of Tarien, to all that do not know. Well met. I emphasize the warning of the Silverguard. I have fight against the Iron Baron, it is not the same, but it will be long road."
She indicates Seyardu, the departing Aryia, faces Malik and Mikilos, "We have find the cultists, they have turn people to stone using the cockatrice. They also have that statue on them, which we have seen, let them fight on past their death, and it control the mind."
"There are warehouses nearby, where the statues were, but the guards allow them to be loaded on ships and away. I recognize a woman I know also."
She looks around, "Is there anything I forget to say?"
The Vardaman cleric nods to everyone one last time and leaves, leaving his underlings to clean up the mess, but he gives Seldan a stern look that promises that the man will be speaking to one of the higher-level Vardamen soon. There are a lot of problems, but there's little that clerics of the dead can do about statues. Particularly with their hands full tending to the dead laying in the streets here and now. It will take many long hours to clean up the streets of all the dead bodies, and eventually everyone will go their own ways. Leaving some things unresolved, but perhaps... not for much longer.
-End