Arc 3 - Glimmers in the Dark (Main Roleplay)

[SCN_ Grey_fox]

Turning his gaze from Faeleen, "That may not be needed, I am proposing I give it a new body. One that it can use the circle of life thing to become something stronger and stronger. With the promise that we don't kill it."

(bluff 18: Hidden message: They give it a small and easily killed body to invade, like a chicken or a goat, and the sacrifice it to Sehanine and *insert name of Kuori's god of water and death*. Gods like that sorta thing, right?

If that fails, he will offer to be a willing host... Pinning this P.o.S. against the full might of The Wounded One.)  

[Rain Yupa]

Revenge would raise a gauntleted palm towards Kuori. "No, no, you don't need to participate," (Insight of 20): "Or attempt something even riskier." "You have enough on your shoulders for the time being. I have a duty to see this through, both as a paladin as well as a fellow worshiper of Sehanine as Faeleen."

Lowering his hand, he would look to Kuori, as well as Ruin. "Neither of you need participate, outside of the ritual being cast. I was hoping you would be able to provide an alternative, Ruin, to minimize risk to all parties involved. Ah... besides a 'raise' ritual... I want Valac here because I would rather point him at a fight rather than dealing with him for leaving him out of one; and Ilikan, I assume would be for the venture due to some level of military allegiance. This would undoubtedly be dangerous and wouldn't wish to risk our own mission's success due to some level of forced 'adventurer kinship' or whatever you want to call it. The fewer of us that go in, the less likely our group's livelihood will be affected if we fail."

He would force a sigh. "Hopefully that aide does return with Valac in tow, at least."  

[PupSage]

"Its not a choice. Ritual gets done, participants go in, and if we lose Demon gets his pick, maybe summons up a few friends to take the others. So ... you aren't going in without me Revenge. I just meant from a practical standpoint, is the life of this stranger worth the life of one or more of our friends? Slay evil where it lives and breeds, it lives in her, and it will effectively breed through us if we slip up. The payout just doesn't seem to justify the risk."  

[SCN_ Grey_fox]

"Revenge listen to what I am about to say and study it as if it was words from your goddess herself... You can take your notion of self-sacrificing 'I have a duty' and piss on it. You want alternatives... fine." Ruin would say, before adding. "You are going to teach me to become a paladin, you are going to practice the art of canoodling your wife, and she will curse you with many little Revenges and Abbys. On this, I swear. So, if you want to free Faeleen fine, but you aren't going in without me either."

Then finally turning to the woman with the ritual book, "Can I see your book?"

If she agrees, he will look for Disenchant Magic Item or Transfer Enchantment; Delay Affliction, Seal Death's Door, and Comrades' Succor. Marking the pages if he finds them.

If not, he would ask her if she has them

(I forgot Monster Knowledge for demons is Arcane... sweatdrop
Arcane: 12 Demon Knowledge!  

[PupSage]

[14 knowledge]

"We do this as a team or not at all. Where is Illikan?"  

[Psychofish]

The warden sneezed, watching Valac try and cover for the antics he and the mechanic had gotten up to, frowning at the missed chance to place a bet, but it was probably for the best things had stopped escalating. Better hold off on that suggestion for the gnome, too.

He'd wait a moment to make sure there was no further explosion to be directed at either- he was nobodies keeper here, and didn't care to step into the crossfire, particularly when he'd rather the girl be ready to listen to him down in the tunnels. If everything seemed to be settling down, he'd step forward and clap his hands softly.

"Why don't we clean up then. Miss, how's the ritual work the others were doing coming along?"  

[Kowsauni]

Back at the whooshwagon...

Irene would cast a stern look at Breezy, who would shrink a bit, at Mr. Roland and then at Valac. But her sharp countenance would eventually break away into laughter. "Man, you guys looked so worried. It's ok Mr. Roland, you can calm down. I just couldn't resist messing you with you all. Though, seriously Breezy, let's put away the heavy weaponry. You can play with your toys later when we're not in the fort and you know any damage you incur you have to fix. "I actually came out here for you, Mr. Valac. Your presence has been requested by your comrades."

When Ilikan steps forward, Irene would nod. "Yes, I agree. I don't want to get in trouble for being a source of distraction. As for acquiring the ritual, things took a rather unsuspected turn actually. To make a long story short, there is a lady in there who has a piece of a weapon broken off in her head that apparently contains an evil spirit that is trying to take over her body. Kuori's been asked to cast a ritual that involves you guys being transported into the lady's consciousness and stopping it. Should be an interesting fight." She'd give a wink to Valac. "I believe you should come along too, Ilikan. They're going to need all the help they can get."

Breezy packs away her ballista and retreats back to inside the carriage. With the fight over, the crowd of soldiers disperses back to their work.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

At the healing ward...

The clerk lady with the rituals would looked shocked at Kuori's words and indeed, so did everyone else that was in hearing vicinity of the conversation. "Y-you mean, you're going to kill her? Don't do that! We have our own ritual casters if you don't want to help! I-I just have to send for one--don't do anything drastic!" The woman looked even more panicked as Kuori moved away from her towards Faeleen with the ritual book. She waves over one of the soldiers guarding the entrance and whispers something in his ear and the soldier promptly runs off.

All attempts by Ruin to contact the spirit seem to illicit no response. He and Kuori also can't tell anything more beyond what Revenge had already gleaned from the malevolent aura radiating from the piece of metal embedded in Faeleen's head.

When Ruin approaches the obviously flustered ritual clerk to ask about other rituals, she stammers out ."U-uh, maybe? I'd have to go check, but why does it matter? I've already given you the ritual you need. S-since your group seems unwilling to help, I've already sent for our own people to come and take care of this matter, so please have the Goliath lady return our ritual." The clerk would then mutter under her breath. "I...I don't understand. I thought adventurers were supposed to be heroes?"  

[SCN_ Grey_fox]

"First off, We never said, No! Instead said, wait and let's ask our whole damned team. At the moment only our knight of Sehanine knows this girl enough to say, hell yes! Our priest is one of a god of death, so of course, she would choose a mercy kill over putting the rest of us at risk. And if ether of them died it would doom their reason for coming here.

I was eaten by a purple worm and almost died today. If it really did happen, I would be a devil's plaything for the rest of eternity. The knight of Sehanine almost died to a Crawler. If he died he would leave behind a wife who is tormented by what a wizard has done to her. If the goliath died, her family would forever be slaves to the drow and or weapons for a nation of monsters.

All this doesn't matter to you, because adventurers are supposed to be heroes... Godsdamnit! You have a fort full of heroes, and yet not one has stepped up to help her. But, we are the villains for not jumping in to your flavor of insanity.

Adventurers are assholes who balance risk vs reward, so let me ask. What are we risking our lives for? And Why does it have to be that ritual? When a simpler Remove Affliction would remove it's hold on her?" Ruin would return  

[Kowsauni]

After Ruin's outburst the ritual clerk loses her fluster and her attitude galvanizes to one of anger and resentment. In a flat tone she says to the warlock. "No, it wont, and you are right, It was a mistake to ask your group for help. Have the goliath return the ritual so the real heroes in this fort can get to work."

Then, almost as if on que, several heavily armed soldiers enter the healing ward. With them is the mage that Ruin had talked to several minutes prior. He could be heard commenting to the other soldiers he was with. "I was in the middle of lifting heavy things and putting back down but I could always spare a minute to save a life. Who is the inflicted patient?"  

[SCN_ Grey_fox]

"Good, Then they can stand back and pick up the scraps if our last man says, no." Ruin would fire back, though he believed he knew Valac's answer. And believed he wouldn't to see the end of this day...

Walking over to the mage's group Ruin would answer his question, "Faeleen, a follower of Sehanine if that means anything. That said, I would hate to step on your shoes. But it seems the ritual lady doesn't know the meaning of wait. Our fourth man is not with us, yet, he was by the gate talking to the gnome in the horseless carriage when I left and I would hate to deny him a voice in a possible battle against a demon." Vaius placed his arm around the mage. "Though, in the mean time you can share much need information. What can you tell me of demon entities in spirit form?" (Diplomancy 10)

(Edited,)  

[Mongooseh]

"Well you're right in that it sounds interesting but where is this ladies conshance where the fight is to be had?" Asked Valac making himself ready.  

[Psychofish]

"Never fought inside someone's head before. Can't say I know if I'll be of any use in that, but if the people who know the magic think so-" Illikan paused, frowning. He had a mission to do, and it was one that involved trying to see to the fate of a town of goliaths, and possibly save them. It wasn't something he could turn down even if he hadn't been given the orders, given what had been done for him. If there was one thing he'd proved himself terrible at, it was dying- but this was involving strange magic beyond his ken and for all he knew it could be certain suicide to step into it. But...

"A weapon fragment. This is one of the soldiers?" He asked the noble, checking that his shield was strapped on tight and then starting toward the medical ward, following her lead if she cared to take it.  

[Rain Yupa]

Revenge would sigh, reaching up with a gauntleted hand to press his fingers to his right temple.

"Right."

He would turn towards the woman with the rituals first. "I understand this demonic malalignment was just discovered, and we happen to be merely conveniently placed to resolve the matter. I understand there is no shortage of courage, misplaced or otherwise, within this camp. Understand, that Ruin's skillset involves dabbling in darker arts and Kuori is currently grieving, so they are not in the best mindsets to contribute piously and selflessly. But this?"

He would gesture with an open palm towards the men who just entered.

"'In the middle of lifting heavy things and putting them back down'? This is the best you can muster on your own on short notice? I'm sorry, but they are clearly lacking in the sufficient mental facilities to be able to resist even the simplest of demonic influence. If you were to send them in our stead, they would not only fail, they would die, Faeleen would die, and everyone in this room would probably die as well. This is not a game nor parlor trick; a woman's mind and soul are in peril."

Revenge would draw his sword, though he would keep the tip of the blade pointed towards the floor. He would turn to face the men.

"Hear me now. I will be engaging this demonic entity myself, and I will save this woman. If you insist on trying to do so yourselves, I will cripple every gods-damned one of you before I let you near her. You are not worthy, and I will not accept failure in this endeavor, which is all you promise us. Do. Not. Cross. Me."

Quote:

Intimidate of +12 = 19

"Kuori or someone else, I don't care who, get ready to cast the ritual as soon as Valac gets here. Ruin, you are clearly exhausted from your earlier battle; I need you to stay here and monitor this girl's state. They will likely need to remove the foreign metal in a hurry and you will be best suited to tell them of that moment. That is how you can best help me now. You want to know what it means to be a paladin? Then you have to learn to deal with people 'pissing on' what you want, as you so eloquently put it before, so sit this one out. Unless you were completely devoid of sincerity a minute ago. This might be our best time to see your true character."

"As I said, get the ritual ready. If I have to go in alone, I will do so, but as Sehanine is my witness, I will not fail."  

[SCN_ Grey_fox]

Rain Yupa

"Ruin, you are clearly exhausted from your earlier battle; I need you to stay here and monitor this girl's state. They will likely need to remove the foreign metal in a hurry and you will be best suited to tell them of that moment. That is how you can best help me now. You want to know what it means to be a paladin? Then you have to learn to deal with people 'pissing on' what you want, as you so eloquently put it before, so sit this one out. Unless you were completely devoid of sincerity a minute ago. This might be our best time to see your true character."

"You sure?" Ruin would ask with a raised eyebrow. "If that is your wish, fine. It is your play... But, you seem to have a very optimistic view of my skill set."  

[Kowsauni]

Back at the whooshwagon...

Irene would respond to Valac and Illikan, "It is at the healing ward. Yes, it is a soldier here; her name is Faeleen. We should hurry along." Before following after Illikan Irene would shout back to Breezy inside the carriage. "Oh, Breezy, do try to stay out of trouble while I'm gone, all right?" Irene would then head back to the healing ward.

((Illikan recognizes Faeleen's name. Though he does not know her personally, he knows from the other soldiers that she had faced off against one of the drow's tops generals. She managed to strike the general down but was gravely wounded in the process. Last thing Ilikan had heard is her injuries caused her to lose most of her memories.))

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

At the healing ward...

"What's that? Your master couldn't provide you with the answers?" The mage would to Ruin chuckling to himself. It was obvious he fancied himself a bit of a jokester. The mage would remove Ruin's hand but would otherwise answer his question. "Well, it is probably the spirit of a devil, not a demon, and I can tell you what I believe is happening here. The Underdark invaders were led by a devil. Amongst the top of his ranks, he gifted them weapons that possessed the souls of devils. We've encountered a few of these items so far. They were so powerful that we had to draw the devil spirit out of the weapon and defeat it in combat to purify the weapon. I believe a shard of one of these weapons must be what is inflicting the poor girl, which means we will have to go in and defeat the devil inhabiting it."

After listening to Revenge's outburst a few of the soldiers looked a bit hesitant but the mage seemed confused and angry. It looked as if he was about to have a few choice words for the Paladin but he would instead let out a sigh and respond. "Obviously, a bit of humor is lost on you. It seems odd for you to judge us unworthy on a mere sentence after we literally repelled a drow/duergar/Ilithid/monster invasion that was being led by an arch devil. We have already successfully dealt with situations similar to this one. I could rightly ask who the hell you are and what makes you think you are qualified to meddle in these affairs. You did not shed blood with us as we fought our way to victory. I was just told that your group was planning on killing her if we didn't meet some ridiculous demand of payment! That all being said, I can see you are passionate about trying to help her, though you are deluded in your judgement in trying to do it alone. We know much more about what you are up against and it will take a team effort to save her. You and your comrades are more than welcome to help assist us in this endeavor, but don't try to hinder us in saving one of our own or you will be removed from this fort."