Arc 2 - Heart of a Monster (Completed)

[PupSage]

Kuori nodded and said, "I never liked mages much myself. The get inflated egos." She would grab her bow and resting it, then sling the quiver over her back. "Well, if it will keep that pretty smile on your face we can head out now. My night sight is crap, but I have some sunrods and some torches if the light won't bother you. Otherwise I can go find as spot to fish. The light actually helps out in that instance. Light brings bugs, bugs bring fish, fish bring bigger fish."  

[AlphabetFish]

Twyla smiled proudly when the girl called her cute, and marveled when she was healed. "Wow, normally I'd have to sing practically a whole opera to do that! That was amazing!"

She then shifted her attention to Valac, who had seemed startled but thankfully was allowing himself to be guinea-pigged. "Ooh, what's it do? What's in it? How's it feel?" Her eyes were wide as she looked on, not wanting to miss anything.  

[Kowsauni]

The maid nods at Revenge and withdraws. As she returns to the other maids, one of them whispers something to her and they both giggle.

Selma winces a bit at the grabbing of her wrist, but it seems to spur her on more then deter her. There is a slight twinkle in her light grey eyes as she presses down on the plunger, injecting the substance into Valac's shoulder. At first Valac feels a bit of an intense burn, an odd sensation for his naturally fire-resistant self, but it quickly subsides. After a few moments, the medicine finally seems to kick in, Valac begins to feel good... quite good in fact. His aches and sores from being beat on with a maul fade away. His wounds feel like nothing. Valac feels like he could break a thousand bolas with a mere flex of his muscles. Valac also might be a bit tipsy, but it is hard to tell. (Valac heals to full gains a +1 to his saving throws until further notice)

Selma steps back from Valac, looking quite confident in herself. "So, how do you feel now?"

Rowena would smile and answer Twyla's question in her sister's stead. "Oh, you can ask her, but I bet it's a secret between her and dad what went into it. Call it an Araethos special."

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"I can see in the dark, but the light shouldn't bother me. Fishing sounds fun. I thought I heard moving water earlier, so there should be a stream nearby."

Petra would move off into the forest. Once she and Kuori have gone ample distance from the gatehouse, Petra would sniff the air. Satisfied there is no one else around, she would then take off her hood and loosen her cape. "Ah, it feels great to finally loosen up a bit. I must say, I get a little jealous of Abby sometimes, with the way she can just hide her appearance with an illusion. I always have to stay hidden. It... it just gets a little draining sometimes. Wears on the nerves. But I guess it's my fault we're in this mess. If only I had... Oh, I smell the stream; we must be close." Petra guides Kuori forward until they reach a small brook. The sound of chirping insects and running water are all that can be heard. Petra would turn to Kuori, the light from her torch/sunrod glinting off her fine scales that made up her skin. "You will have to show me what to do. Last time I fished, it was with my bare hands... I wasn't very successful." ((Roll me another nature check, to see how your fishing goes.))

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Shayne stumbles around a bit, but he eventually spots the lights from the the gatehouse and manages to find his way back. Once he returns to the gate, he finds Kuori and Petra are gone, but a group of 5 men directed by a young maid are busy setting up one large tent and two smaller ones.  

[Noname 51]

"Half expected, we would only get A tent. This is better..." Shayne stated amused, as he made his way to the leading young maid. "... I can almost hear the slumbers calling. Thanks to you and your men."  

[Rain Yupa]

Revenge would slowly, gradually start to relax as the minutes ticked by, but for the time being, he casually glanced at any doorways he expected Vincent to come out of.

He would once again tense when Valac would grab the girl's wrist, but when the situation didn't spiral, he eased up once more, fairly quickly this time.  

[Mongooseh]

".... You got any we can take with us? I'm feeling great." Asked Valac as he grinned at Selma, "But now I can't convince one of the maids to faun over me unless there's a volunteer still? Can I have that drink at least?"

Valac continued trying to catch the eye of a maid and also looking out for a servant bearing a drink.  

[PupSage]

8 Insight
22 Nature

Kuori looked at Petra with a look of confusion. She couldn't understand why Petra didn't just try to pass off as a half dragon or something. Once they got to the stream she planted the torch in the dirt, close enough to cast light on the water. "Nothing wrong with using your hands, but it will scare off the other fish. We could get a bigger haul if we give it a more gentle approach."  

[Kowsauni]

Selma beams triumphantly. "I knew it would work, but I'm afraid that is all I have. Let me know if you experience any side effects though. The medicine might linger in your body for a few days. As for a drink my father doesn't believe in alcohol... but I think he might keep some around here for guests." Selma looks at the maids for an answer but they look back and forth between themselves, unsure. Before the answer to this important question could be figured out, Vincent would enter the room. "I bring good news. My father has agreed to see you. I will escort you to the Arboretum now."

Leaving the girls behind, and Valac's drink order depressingly unfulfilled, Vincent leads the party through a seemingly endless amount of hallways and doors until they eventually enter an enormous glass room. The room was quite hot and humid and filled with an extraordinary amount of exotic looking plant life. Tree sized luminescent mushrooms strategically dotted the place, providing light for the room. Once everyone had entered Vincent would announce their presence, his voice would reverberate off the glass walls. "Father, I have brought your guests."

There was no answer but footsteps could be heard getting closer. Then, from behind a column of brightly colored bushes emerged a tall thin man dressed in black. His white hair matched his neatly trimmed white beard. Over one eye he wears an eye patch and the other a monocle. His one visible eye was light grey in color and piercing. His gaze focused on each member of the party individually before he spoke. He did not introduce himself, but it was obvious he was Kail Araethos.

"Good evening and welcome to my house. Now I understand you have some business with me, yes? Why is it that you want my artifact, which is, as my daughter named it, the Soulcleanser?"

Abby would step forward and speak. "Good evening, Master Araethos. I am Abigail Morgan. I have come to trade for the Soulcleanser, as I have use for its potent magical powers. I heard it can be used to cure the most powerful afflictions from various malignant diseases to petrification. I find myself in a situation where I need such a powerful cure. Now, I have brought a wagon containing thousands of gold worth of wares, so if we could work out a deal where even I can just borrow--"

Kail would hold up his hand, cutting Abby off. He would then respond. "Yes the Soulcleanser is capable of such feats, and much more, if in the right hands." Kail would turn his back to the group for a moment and begin fiddling with a plant. "You know, you are the second person to recently come seeking this artifact." Kail would then suddenly turn around, wand in hand. In one fluid motion, a spell would fly from it, striking Abby as he shouted,"Aberration! Show your true form and tell me why you are really here!" ((An Arcana check can be used to identify the spell Kail cast.))

Vincent would jump in surprise and rush at Kail, looking ready to restrain him. "Father! What are you doing? These are our--" But he would stop mid sentence as Abby's form began to twist and distort. "What in Pelor?"

The person that everyone had known as Abby had vanished. Instead an entirely different creature stood in her place, one that only Revenge had seen before. This creature's shape was still similar to that of a young woman's, but her skin was a palish blue with a light specked pattern running across it. Her hair was a deep shade of blue, much longer and wilder than it'd been before. Four long tentacles protruded from the back of her head and mixed in with her hair. A long tail, ending in a fin, extended out from underneath her dress. But the biggest change of all is where Abby once had, two eyes, she now had three, the new one centered in the the middle of her forehead. Her eyes are pupilless and bright red.

Abby looked stunned for a moment, but it only took her a few moments to realize her true form had been revealed. She collapsed to her knees and began to cry. She covered her face with her hands as her tentacles curled around her. Between sobs she pleaded, "Please, don't look. Not like this. No one is supposed to see me like this! Look away!"

Vincent looked stunned and Kail himself looked quite perplexed, as if this was a different result than he had expected. His wand was still held at the ready but he made no further aggressive action. He simply demanded, "I need an explanation, now!"

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The maid would look up at Shayne as he approached and would cross her arms and smile. Her hair and eyes were both hazel brown and her ears were slightly pointed as if to suggest some distant elven lineage. "The Araethos's take care of their guests even if they don't want to abide by the master's rules." The maid said the last part lightly, but it was clear that she knew why they were remaining outside the gate. "I can have some food brought out if you like, but don't ask about drinks other than water. The master likes to keep his house painfully dry."

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Petra would chuckle sadly to herself. "Well, it was done more out of desperation than anything. So how are we going to fish? Are you going to shoot them with your bow?" Petra stared at the stream curiously.

After Kuori plants her torch, it does not take long for the bugs to begin to swarm around it and once the bugs came, as she predicted, so did the fish. One particularly large fat trout hovered near the surface, waiting for an insect to fall prey to the water.  

[Noname 51]

"To even reach out to help us gymnophobic rebels; I may have to rethink my opinion of your master then." Shayne smiles, "Food would be good, just in case their expedition comes back fruitless. And, are tea and coffee also off that list? If not, I would love to listen to any story you may have of the Araethos family."  

[Rain Yupa]

Revenge would walk to Abby, interposing himself between her and Kail. His back to the mage, he would crouch down, trying to cover her as much as he could with his armor to block line of sight on her.

Turning his head to the side, the Tiefling would say, "You'll get nothing until you undo whatever you have done. If either of you are so narrow-minded to not objectively see this situation for what it is, you'll have to kill me if you want to harm her again."  

[Mongooseh]

Valac raised his eyebrow at the whole situation wondering what to do in this high tension situation. Being confused and feeling threatened, he defaulted to his base self and chose violence. Balling his fists Valac suddenly burst from his group at the Archmage, fist held high and intent to do harm well and truly shown.

"Ednaoz aem xhaeaeg!" Shouted Valac an abyssal warcry.

(24 to hit vs ac, 10 damage if it does.)  

[AlphabetFish]

Twyla followed along through the hallways, so excited to see everything around her and running through the questions she'd want to ask Mr. Araethos when she met him.

It seemed only polite, though to let Abby speak first. Twyla was looking around at the various different plants, trying to remember what strange and mystical tales she'd read about them from books, when she heard Mr. Araethos cut Abby off. Turning to look at them, Twyla began vaguely to sense that the man might not be as pleasant as his long, dry treatises on fungi might have led one to believe.

Then she saw him strike Abby with a spell. ((Arcana: 32! Crit!! The spell is Dispel Magic.))

All of a sudden everything happened very fast. Abby fell crying to the ground, a mass of inhuman blue, and Revenge folded himself around her protectively. Vincent cried out at his father, and Valac the (surprisingly) Inflammable rushed at the wizard, fist ready to strike.

"Wait, wait!" Twyla cried out, "he didn't hurt her! It was just dispel magic! Okay, true, I don't think any of us were expecting her to look quite like that, but the spell can't have hurt her! It just broke whatever spell was on her!"

She looked away from the amazing and weird blue creature now taking the place of her employer, and tried to keep an open mind. It was the same Abby, of course, and Twyla HAD already known that her form was different from what the gnome saw on her every day, so it didn't matter how many eyes she had! She had to make Kail Araethos see that. Twyla cleared her throat and addressed the master of the manor.

"Please, Mr. Araethos! Our friend here means no harm, and she's telling the truth about why we've come here! Don't hold her appearance against her--this was a cruel torment visited upon her by some evil fiend! She wasn't born as any kind of aberration, and in all my dealings with her I've known her to be a good and upstanding person. If you won't take my word for it, take Mr. Revenge's. He's her husband and knew her before this happened to her. Please let us explain!"

((Diplomacy: 29 to convince Kail to calm down and realize Abby isn't any kind of threat.))  

[PupSage]

From her Rations Kuori plucked a scrap of bread. "I could shoot them, but people normally use special arrows for that." She handed the bread to Petra and said, "Which means we need to get them closer. You tear up the bread and toss it in somewhere where the water is slow. then we wait. We train the fish to expect food, then it feels safe."  

[Kowsauni]

As Valac charges Kail with a ferocious punch, the mage deftly dodges out of the way at the last second, demonstrating a spryness and awareness one would not expect from a man of his age. Vincent, who has been caught off guard by the sudden turn of events, springs into action. He tackles the barbarian to the ground. (Valac is prone and grappled. DC 20 athletics or acrobatics check to escape) He comments to Valac while wrestling with him, "Calm down! Let's not make a mistake we cannot come back from. " He would then turn around to shout at his father. "With all due respect father, you are being an a**! She had plenty of opportunity to do us harm when she was alone with Selma and Rowena. Whatever creature she is, she is not here to hurt us."

With a grumpy "hrmph" Kail would put away his wand. "As the gnome said, all I did was dispel the illusion she was hiding behind. I don't like it when truths are hidden from me and it is obvious there is still a lot of truth being hidden."

Kail takes a few steps forward, away from where Valac and Vincent lay on the floor. He would then address the rest of the group. His standoffish demeanor has changed to one of great interest. "She is an artificial hybrid. A cross between an Aboleth and a human. I have never seen anything like this before. The magic that went into this is amoral, yet fascinating. I want to know more. Who created her and why? What exactly do you plan to do with the Soulcleanser? I must know the truth!"

As Revenge crouches next to Abby she would reach out to him and hug him as close as his plate mail would allow. The tentacles from her head would curl around him as well. She hid her head in his chest and continued to cry.

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The maid would laugh. "Coffee and tea are available, yes. And to tell about the Araethos's... well, I wouldn't even know where to begin. You will have to narrow down your inquiry. Kail is the master of the house, and I'm sure you know his stories, but his wife, Posey, is the one who calls the shots at the manor and holds their family together. She was a commoner, you know, but Kail married her out of love. He's not your average noble, that's for sure, and neither are his children. Well, let me go put in an order for the kitchen."

The maid wanders over to the gate house for a bit but then promptly returns. "Your food should be out shortly. My name is Hiya by the way. What's yours?"

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Petra would listen to Kuori's explanation and nod. "Yes, that makes sense. I wish I'd thought of that before. This is the kind of stuff they didn't teach at the orphanage."

Petra moves up rather stealthily to the side of the river and begins to toss in the bread crumbs. Some fish begin to nibble at them gingerly, but the one giant fat trout seems uninterested in the crumbs and hangs low in the water.  

[Mongooseh]

"Calm down?!?! I'll show you who's calm!" Valac shouted as he struggled against Vincent but was unable to break free from his grasp, "Does this bloody b*****d have bolas..? It's not too late for you to surrender Paladin for I will never surrender! One last chance before I ask my brother to help me."

Valac will continue to buck, struggle and toil to make Vincent's job of restraining him a hard one.