027: Creeping back to life

[Sierra]

<El-Cideon> Primarch Arwin leads the way upstairs to the remains of the ruined house, his stone club held at the ready, but relaxes when he reaches the bedroom before you. It's empty, and still in somewhat decent shape: there's a luxurious canopied bed here, with the canopy fallen down, a nightstand and dresser toppled over on their sides, and a writing desk in one corner. Across from the bed, pinned to the wall, are a pair of wings--leathery, human-sized, so well-preserved you could swear they were still attached to a living organism, the truncated wingstems still fresh and red at the point they were severed. A single window, the window pane shattered in the explosion, looks out over the chasm.
<Franceska> "This is horrible," Franceska voices upon taking this in. "Where to now?"
<Steph> "You're the magic woman, give it a look with your magic eyes?"
<Julia> "Did she fall out the window perhaps?" Julia wonders, going to take a look down.
* Franceska regretfully takes a look around with Detect Magic.
<El-Cideon> It's a long way down! So far that you could not possibly guess how far off the bottom is, if indeed there is one.
<El-Cideon> The wings are magical, as are two items in the desk.
<Franceska> roll 3#1d20+11 spellcraft
* Hatbot --> "Franceska rolls 3#1d20+11 spellcraft and gets 47."12 [3#1d20+11 = 20, 15, 12]
<El-Cideon> Franceska finds her expertise insufficient for the task on this day!
<Franceska> "Those are too disgusting to look at," Franceska says dismissively, gesturing at the wings and then waving at the desk. "Those two as well. How about you look for other ways out instead of this fascination with windows into the abyss?"
<El-Cideon> Arwin meanders over to the desk, circling around a noxious puddle oozing from that toppled nightstand, and rummages through it--writing materials, a pair of unlabeled, leatherbound books. He opens one of these up and flips through it with a frown.
<Steph> Stephanie starts rummaging around, seeking out things of interest.
<Steph> roll 1d20+11 sad
* Hatbot --> "Steph rolls 1d20+11 sad and gets 14."12 [1d20=3]
<Julia> "Oh, fine," Julia huffs, moving away from the window. But given her macabre bent its only natural she ends up by the dismembered wings. Where did they come from? How fresh are they?
<El-Cideon> OOC: K:P and/or Heal, whichever you've got/care to roll
<Julia> roll 1d20+11 planes
* Hatbot --> "Julia rolls 1d20+11 planes and gets 16."12 [1d20=5]
<Julia> roll 1d20+11 heal
* Hatbot --> "Julia rolls 1d20+11 heal and gets 28."12 [1d20=17]
* Franceska drifts over the dwarf, asking, "Anything of interest?"
<El-Cideon> Stephanie finds a lavish collection of noble finery spilling from the wardrobe, from respectable court gowns to exciting underthings. This probably represents a minor fortune by most people's standards! The nightstand contains mostly a shattered collection of bottles reeking with the smell of alcohol, alongside a collection of stone phalluses of alarmingly comprehensive racial diversity. She finds nothing else of note in the already-searched desk.
<Steph> "This chick had interesting hobbies," notes Stephanie, poking one of them with her sword.
<El-Cideon> Julia's not sure what exactly the wings came from, but she's sure they're still functionally alive--there's no trace of decay and they're still warm and vital, as if blood yet pumped through the membranes.
<El-Cideon> "Nothing I can read," Arwin says, handing the books to Franceska.
<Julia> "Hmm, these wings are actually alive," Julia observes, prodding the stem of one.
* Franceska takes a glance, musing, "We do have someone who traveled around all sorts of unsavory places."
<El-Cideon> "Oh my!" Rosemund exclaims, blushing furiously and carefully avoiding examining Stephanie's haul closely.
<El-Cideon> OOC: languages, Franceska?
<Steph> "Ooh, you mean me?" asks Stephanie, walking over to peer at the book.
<Franceska> OOC: Common, Druidic, Elven, Infernal
<El-Cideon> The wing twitches slightly in response to Julia's prodding.
<Franceska> "Speak of the thing and it appears."
<Steph> "Don't compared me to that Thing!"
<El-Cideon> Stephanie is able to recognize abyssal when she sees it, but somehow she can't read this. At first glance it's a mishmash of letters, utter gibberish, though the writing does appear to have sentence structure and punctuation.
* Julia idly entertains thoughts of holding the wings up in her arms and having them bear her aloft with the power of flight, but that's just silly. "Hm? What did Thing do now?" she blinks and turns around, hearing her familiar's name.
<Franceska> "She has issues," Franceska simply tells Arwin, before gesturing for Darrin to come closer and instructing him to look through what remains accessible of the house for anyone, alive or dead.
<Steph> "Huh. This stuff's in code, I think," notes Stephanie. "Yeah, it's like all the letters are jumbled up. No foolin'. I guess I could try cracking it?"
<El-Cideon> The cipher is frustratingly complicated and cracking it proves beyond Stephanie's abilities at this time. She's sure that it IS a cipher, and not just random gibberish, and the books look structured like a pair of journals, but drawing the actual meaning from them is too daunting a task for a day like this one.
<Steph> Stephanie grunts. "I'll need more time," she says, closing the book. "Mind if I hang onto these?"
<Franceska> roll 1d20+28 Darrin being sneaky
* Hatbot --> "Franceska rolls 1d20+28 Darrin being sneaky and gets 41."12 [1d20=13]
<El-Cideon> Arwin shrugs. "I cannot read them myself."
<Franceska> roll 1d20+29 Darrin looking into the basement
* Hatbot --> "Franceska rolls 1d20+29 Darrin looking into the basement and gets 45."12 [1d20=16]
<Steph> Stephanie tucks them away. "I hope these aren't bad for me. Were they magic?"
<Franceska> "Oh yes."
<El-Cideon> Darrin shortly returns and perches on Franceska's shoulder to whisper in her ear.
<Steph> "Eww. I wonder if I'll go nuts when I read them," muses Stephanie.
* Franceska gives Stephanie a dubious look.
<El-Cideon> "I will be sure to tell you if this occurs," Rosemund promises.
* Franceska then reaches out to tap Arwin on the shoulder. "Two prisoners below, along with what might be your mage. We should leave the rest for later and go there now."
<Steph> "Oh, Rosey! You're so precious!" replies Stephanie, patting her on the shoulder. "So what did we learn here? Anything-" Her demeanour is dropped in a flash, and she starts to head downstairs.
<El-Cideon> The basement stairs, mildly cluttered with rubble from the house above, lead to a subterranean hallway just wide enough for two to walk abreast. Immediately before you at the lower level are two doors on either side of the hall: first on the left and second on the right, heavy wooden doors with a grille at eye level, both doors slightly ajar; second on the left the door has been brutally punched off its hinges outwards into the hall; first on the right is open and a horrible smell of rotting meat wafts from inside. Beyond the cell doors the hallway plunges into utter blackness that devours the light from Rosemund's mace.
<Franceska> "Once more, I want to note how much I despise this plane," Franceska says, keeping near Rosemund.
<El-Cideon> Rosemund wrinkles her nose at the odor. "I believe that I may become sick again," she worries.
<Julia> Julia keeps her mouth shut. Less exposure to the smell after all.
<Steph> Stephanie moves to peer through the grilles.
<El-Cideon> Within the first left cell a naked woman is bound to the wall by gleaming metal shackles, slumped and slack as if unconscious or dead. Of golden hair and sinuous figure, she is covered all over with welts and cuts, and a dagger is buried in her chest. Second on the right the cell contains an actual bed, but the inhabitant is no better off: a human man, blonde, quite well-built and handsome in life, but plainly dead now, nearly bisected by a horrible gash across his midsection. The opened cell is larger than these two and filled merely with a wide variety of viscera and bones.
<El-Cideon> Franceska's magical senses detect two things within her vicinity: the woman's shackles and the dagger both.
<Kallen> "Late prisoners," mutters Stephanie, starting to try and get the doors open.
<Franceska> roll 2#1d20+11 spellcraft
* Hatbot --> "Franceska rolls 2#1d20+11 spellcraft and gets 43."12 [2#1d20+11 = 20, 23]
<Kallen> roll 1d20+16
* Hatbot --> "Kallen rolls 1d20+16 and gets 34."12 [1d20=18]
<El-Cideon> No one troubled to lock the doors after seeing to the prisoners, so this is quite easily done!
<Franceska> "Shackles and dagger are magical," Franceska says dispassionately, turning her attention to the zone of blackness. "It would take quite a while to resurrect everyone from this, it seems."
<Steph> Stephanie cringes a little, but she still intends to get those things in her possession.
<El-Cideon> Franceska is able to identify the dagger, but the woman's manacles prove beyond your abilities for now.
<Franceska> "What did this Xenobia look like?" she wonders out loud.
<El-Cideon> Arwin shrugs. "I didn't know the lass myself. To hear the talk, blackhaired, buxom and beautiful. By your human standards, at least."
<Franceska> A dwarf after her own heart! None of that cross-species romance! Franceska almost smiles, but the situation would surely make others misunderstand. "Then not this prisoner," she muses, before telling Stephanie, "Before letting her loose, can you see if she might be a demon?"
<Steph> Stephanie blinks, and then peers at the woman to see if she's really dead.
<El-Cideon> OOC: perception?
<Julia> "Doesn't look like a giant frog or a little imp thing," Julia opines before blinking, "Oh, I see. A succubus perhaps, to match those wings?"
<Steph> roll 1d20+11
* Hatbot --> "Steph rolls 1d20+11 and gets 12."12 [1d20=1]
<Franceska> "No wounds on the back where wings would go or anything of the sort?"
<Julia> Julia goes in and turns her as much as the manacles allow to take a look.
* Franceska nods at Julia, happy that someone else is doing this troublesome work.
<El-Cideon> There are quite distinct wounds on her back that would match neatly those severed wings. Whether she's dead or expertly faking it Stephanie cannot discern, however.
<Steph> "Oh, yeah. They're here alright," notes Stephanie. "A succubus! Those whores! Well, sucks to be her," she says, cheery again as she appropriates the dagger.
<Julia> "Yes, a shame," Julia agrees, deciding to come back for the body later. It'd make a decent skeleton.
<Franceska> "I think even the city would allow us to kill a demon within its limits," Franceska muses, thinking it over. "We might try to question her about this Xenobia, but it really is too troublesome."
<El-Cideon> The body shudders in a way that an unliving one could not, and fresh ichor oozes from the wound as the dagger is wrenched free, but the woman makes no sound nor seems to rouse.
<Kallen> "Oh, shit, she really is alive!" Stephanie pauses. "Not for long?" she asks, hopefully.
<Franceska> "Well, please kill her."
<Julia> "Oh!" Julia blinks and then frowns. Did someone beat her to the punch, and make a zombie besides?
<Julia> To settle it conclusively, Julia casts detect undead!
<El-Cideon> Julia does not detect any undead within the immediate vicinity.
<Julia> "I suppose she is alive, then..." she says disappointedly, leaving the execution to someone else and backing out of the cell.
<Steph> Stephanie's all too happy to slash the succubi's throat with her newest possession.
<El-Cideon> The demoness's eyes flick open in the moment of death, fix on Stephanie in shock and horror, then she convulses and bleeds her last.
<Steph> At least she got to die seeing a smile, Stephanie thinks as she wipes off the dagger. "It must really suck to be a demon," she muses.
<Julia> "Yes, I believe it does," Julia affirms, Thing squeaking from her armpit whether in agreement or argument is hard to say.
<Julia> "I wonder if the man is some sort of demon as well, then?" she wonders, going to give him a look over.
<Julia> roll 1d20+11 planes?
* Hatbot --> "Julia rolls 1d20+11 planes? and gets 24."12 [1d20=13]
<El-Cideon> He looks pretty human to Julia.
<Franceska> Delighted that everyone is acting so sensibly about the demons, Franceska keeps back near Rosemund for now.
<Steph> "Can we do anything about this thing?" wonders Stephanie, turning to the utter darkness, and then flinging a copper through it to see if it makes a sound.
<El-Cideon> The echo of metal on stone rings back to Stephanie, immediate and nearby.
<El-Cideon> Rosemund waves her mace at the wall of darkness. "I am afraid that I cannot," she admits.
<Julia> Julia would dispel it but she needs those spells for raising her two prospective minions.
<El-Cideon> Arwin frowns. "I may hire some mageling to disperse this aura if we are unable to do so now, yet I dislike leaving behind whatever might lurk therein."
<Franceska> "Oh fine. It is hardly my specialty, but I could give it a try," Franceska allows, gesturing at the darkness and willing it to be snuffed!
<Franceska> roll 1d20+9
* Hatbot --> "Franceska rolls 1d20+9 and gets 15."12 [1d20=6]
<El-Cideon> But the darkness merely broods right back Franceska, impassive.
<Julia> "Oh, fine, let me try," Julia says, trying just one dispel and leaving but one minion today. She can get the other tomorrow unless it's destroyed.
<Julia> roll 1d20+9
* Hatbot --> "Julia rolls 1d20+9 and gets 22."12 [1d20=13]
<El-Cideon> The darkness yields to Julia's will! And once dispersed, only the natural subterranean gloom pervades the scene before you: this looks like a small shrine, albeit of the vilest and most despicable character. Prominent among carvings of all manner of obscene carnal acts and much scrawled abyssal praise is the symbol of a black hand with six fingers. A motionless young woman dressed in a white gown rests supine on a black stone altar in the center of the room. Human, hair of blonde ringlets, blue eyes staring lifelessly at the ceiling.
<El-Cideon> "Too late, then," Arwin sighs with resignation.
<Franceska> "The one you came here to save?"
<El-Cideon> "Insofar as I can tell," he admits. "The dao's logs were not intricate in their physical description, but the age appears right."
<Franceska> "Unfortunate." Franceska frowns. "So. What now? We have plenty of dead people and few options for bringing them back, and then there is the matter of kicking the dao out."
<Julia> "I've never understood why evil cultists and the like would sacrifice slaves or prisoners," Julia says, walking over. "It's hardly a sacrifice if you didn't care for them to start with. Why not just sacrifice the money you would have bought the slave with?"
<El-Cideon> "Take who you can to Kardanus if you wish," Arwin says. "Restoring life to those passed is not within my abilities. It is in me to see to the living now. I will marshal my men for the morrow, the mayor be damned."
<Steph> "I've never understood why people join evil cults," replies Stephanie, pointedly. "But they revel in obscenity. Defiling something pure. Tormenting innocence. That sort of thing. It's not based on pragmatism, unless you count amusing dark powers as pragmatic." She glances at it. "Don't try to understand it."
<El-Cideon> "You know, I would not normally say this sort of thing," Rosemund admits, slowly, with some evident shame, "but I am very much in the mood to kill a person right now."
<Franceska> "We are staying at the Broken Oar. Please stop by if you need any help dealing with such things," Franceska offers.
<El-Cideon> He nods, and turns to head back up to the light. "Better tidings on the morrow, then."
* Franceska blinks at Rosemund's words. "Well, then. I'm glad you understand how I feel quite often." She returns Arwin's nod, and starts heading back up.
<Julia> "I'll catch up in a little bit," Julia says, intending to go steal a blanket which she can use to try and hide her soon to be created skeletal minion.
<El-Cideon> "Um, but let us see what we can do about helping people before it comes to that," Rosemund hastily amends, scooping the dead child up for transport to the temple.
<El-Cideon> The blankets on the bed upstairs would be perfectly serviceable for Julia's purposes.
<Julia> And classy, too!
<Franceska> "Oh, certainly," Franceska is only too happy to agree. "After all, you don't see me kill people left and right, do you? However much they might deserve it?"
<El-Cideon> Charlotte is waiting for you outside the temple of Ehlonna when you arrive, leaning against the temple wall sagging with fatigue and stress, the white-wrapped bundle of her late friend lying at her feet. Over the temple wall, trees loom--trees in the underground, a bright light and the sound of birdsong.
* Franceska gives her a nod of acknowledgement before heading onto temple grounds.
<Julia> "Trouble's been sorted out, for now at least. Lets see about getting our friend back?" Julia says, offering Charlotte a hand with bringing Mercedes inside.
<El-Cideon> "'s alright," Charlotte waves away any help. "Thanks, but I brought her all the way here myself, I can finish the job myself." She kneels down, hauls the wrapped body up again, with some difficulty in the gravity of Earth.
<Julia> Julia is privately grateful because she's not nearly that strong!
<El-Cideon> Within the temple walls is, quite incongruously, a forest grove. The temple walls shield you from the bulk of the city noise outside and it's as if you've stepped right into a little piece of Arborea (which is no doubt a comfort to all)--minus the blue sky, of course. Sunlight is simulated by a staggering array of magelight spheres arranged around the interior. There are three figures standing immediately within, all dressed in forest-hued robes: two serious and imposing young men with clubs, and a matronly brunette, belly swollen with obvious pregnancy. "Petitioners, I hope?" she greets you cautiously.
<Steph> "Ah, yes, that's right," replies Stephanie, stepping forward. "We were hoping to see Kardanus, if he's available?"
<El-Cideon> She eyes the two dead bodies in the party's possession. "He is unoccupied, if not necessarily unburdened. May I ask, what is the nature of your request?"
<Franceska> "You must have heard about the girl sold off as a slave to a demon-worshipping mage?"
<El-Cideon> She nods sadly. "You have retrieved her, then? A small mercy, at least."
<Franceska> "It would be a larger one if Kardanus could bring her back," Franceska says. "The other victim lived directly across this mage, and was assassinated. It is quite possible she knows something and was silenced as a result. Given that the mage is still at large, we need any information we could get."
<El-Cideon> "You want them returned to us," she concludes.
<Franceska> "Yes. We can compensate the temple for the trouble, of course."
<El-Cideon> "Perhaps," she says with a sigh, brushing a lock of hair from her eyes. "Come along, I'll see you to him." She turns and leaves the door guards behind, walking through the grove to a circle of trees that arc their branches together overhead like a cathedral in miniature. Within, resting on a stone bench with hands clasped in quiet contemplation, is an elderly man--or one could assume he is elderly, it's difficult to determine with certainty his age given his kindly old face has assumed the texture and color of tree bark, his hair moss and fresh leaves. He looks up at your approach. "Visitors, Sister Lena?" He stands up, slowly, working out cramps and kinks. "And what manner of solace might we provide for you strangers?"
<Julia> "Something of a miracle, we're hoping," Julia says. "These two were taken from us, and we're hoping you have the power to bring them back."
<Franceska> Must she really repeat her story yet again? Franceska pushes her annoyance down and says in support of Julia's words, "We want to restore life to those it was stolen from by demons and demon-worshippers, and push back against their evil. You are our only chance."
<El-Cideon> "It has at times been within my power to call back the wrongfully slain," he admits with a smile. "Demons, is it?" He sighs. "They infest our city of a sudden. Years of quiet in our little hole in the ground, and yet they find us again. Set the ill-fated before me here. Tell me who they are."
<Franceska> "A victim who was taken by the dao and then sold as a slave to that mageling, Xenobia, only to be tortured and sacrificed to some power of the Abyss," Franceska responds. "And a woman who lived across from her and was assassinated, quite likely in an attempt to keep her silent about something she discovered. We can right this wrong and discover a lead about Xenobia at the same time!"
<El-Cideon> "This one's Mercedes," Charlotte says, setting her friend down in the clearing and unwrapping the body. The priestess mutters a shocked benediction at the sad state of the body, but Kardanus doesn't flinch. "She ran the Red Rose," Charlotte adds, as if challenging anyone to call iniquity upon her for that.
<Franceska> Seeing it as irrelevant, Franceska merely shrugs.
<Steph> "She's a good person," Stephanie is quick to add. "She didn't deserve that. Nobody does."
<El-Cideon> The priestess leans over and says something quietly to Kardanus. He opens his mouth for some retort but she silences it with a stern look. Kardanus turns back to you, heaves an aggrieved sigh. "You must know that it pains me to ask the question." He gestures to the two bodies. "Which one?"
<Franceska> "To clarify," Franceska asks, frowning, "are you asking which one you could resurrect today, and which one tomorrow?"
<El-Cideon> "I am asking you," he says slowly, measuring each word, "which one?"
<Franceska> How is she supposed to agree to any contract without understanding it properly? Finding herself in doubt, Franceska glances over at Rosemund.
<Julia> "I see..." Julia looks down at them. Certainly both are innocent and undeserving... but only Mercedes was their fault. Only Mercedes was their friend. And someone sacrificed to dark powers may not have an intact soul to even recover. "I think Mercedes," she says, looking at her companions to see if they agree or disagree.
<El-Cideon> "I am not certain we understand the question..." Rosemund says with a blink. The priestess cuts in, "Don't you think that if this was easy for him, there would be a line out the door?"
<Franceska> "Is success guaranteed?" Franceska decides to ask.
<El-Cideon> "If they wish to come back, and if they may," Kardanus allows.
<Steph> "Just one, and the other's lost?" clarifies Stephanie, grimacing, and hating this kinda choice. "There's a material cost, I know, just..." She purses her lips. "What does matter, if we only get one chance either way?" she wonders. "I would think Mercedes as well."
<Franceska> "If there is such risks involved, the one with the best chances of returning," Franceska decides for her part.
<El-Cideon> "All due respect," Charlotte adds, "but I don't know the girl. Tragic and all, dying young, but I don't know her." She shakes her head. "Sorry, I want my friend back."
<El-Cideon> "I could not say who is most like to return to us," he says. "But it sounds as though you have spoken?" he concludes, stepping to Mercedes's body and looking around for objections.
<Steph> "It's cold, but people die everywhere and you can't save them all," admits Stephanie. "You gotta stick with your friends."
<Franceska> "It seems the one likeliest to succeed, under the circumstances," Franceska agrees to put her vote there properly.
<El-Cideon> Rosemund looks conflicted, but finally nods to the group consensus. The brown-haired priestess purses her lips as though she disapproves of this choice, but says nothing. "Very well then," Kardanus concludes, kneeling by the slain tiefling. "Let us proceed."
<Franceska> "What do we need to do to ensure the best conditions?"
<El-Cideon> "Silence would be of assistance to me," he says. "Call to her with your heart, if it suits you to do so."
* Franceska doesn't really think their hearts are connected in any way, and decides to stay silent to not mess anything up.
<Steph> Stephanie is certainly praying inside. It's so rare for her to meet another tiefling she actually likes, after all.
<Julia> Likewise Julia is quiet and merely watches a form of raising the dead that's rather more productive than her own.
<El-Cideon> The wizened priest closes his eyes, clasps his hands together, chants in Sylvan explicable only to Stephanie of those present as a prayer to the lady of the forests, calling on the powers of the wood, the stream and the earth to send this poor wayward soul back to its mortal shell on a divine breeze. Overhead, in the forever windless air of the cavern, the trees rustle quiet assent. Anyone watching the body closely could see the wounds knit--not fully but enough for functional life--as Kardanus's mane of leaves fades from green to autumn scarlet. He heaves an exhausted breath and sits back on his haunches, supported by the priestess, just as Mercedes's eyes shoot open. The newly-revived madame jerks bolt upright, clutching at her old fatal wounds, uttering a hoarse scream as she jolts back to the land of the living. Charlotte kneels down and clutches her shoulders. "It's alright, you're alive again! Shut up before those goons with the clubs think we're killing somebody in here, you idiot!"
<Julia> Charlotte knows her well, surely that's what Mercedes would respond best to after being killed and resurrected.
<Franceska> "Congratulations," Franceska tells Kardanus, moving to support him alongside the priestess. "It was beautifully done."
<Steph> "I think they're used to this," notes Stephanie, peering over Mercedes with a smile. "Calm down, or you'll open your wounds, 'kay?"
<El-Cideon> Mercedes gasps, holds her temples, runs a hand through her hair. Finally takes a look around the clearing and gathers her senses. "Oh, you guys..." She starts, before raising an accusing fingers at all of you. "Yeah, you'd damn well better've got me raised! Next time you want me to put you in touch with someone, TELL ME WHAT FOR AHEAD OF TIME, you got that? Stupid bunch of--" She degenerates into a series of violent abyssal swears.
<Steph> Stephanie shuffles her feet awkwardly.
<El-Cideon> "My pleasure," Kardanus says to Franceska despite his subject's presumably unusual reaction. "This isn't really one of our regular services," the priestess warns before Fran can get the notion of asking for another one.
<Franceska> "Does this happen all the time? Outbursts of rage?"
* Julia bows her head like a chastised child, accepting this as her due.
<El-Cideon> "No," he says with a blink. "It's usually more...tearful reunions, grateful thanks. I'm accustomed to more hugging."
* Franceska nods at the priestess. "I understand, regretful as it might be. Matters of payment aside, was there some trouble here in the temple as well, caused by those demons and their worshippers? Or is that merely a nasty rumor?" At Kardanus's words, she shrugs. "Perhaps the hugging will come later."
<El-Cideon> Mercedes stands up, wobbly on her feet, snatching at her wrapping to keep it around her. "I--whoa--you guys, you've got to be the worst business partners ever. Great joke, except that it turned out to be on me. Thanks for that, by the way." She rubs her eyes. "How long was it? What'd I miss?"
<Franceska> "The ability to read the situation," Franceska tells her dryly. "Please hug someone in gratitude."
<Julia> "I think just a few days? You missed your neighbour across the chasm unleashing demons on the city, and a dwarf paladin threatening to kill all the slavers by tomorrow. So you're up in time for that at least," Julia says in a chipper voice. "Yes, hug Charlotte. She had no part in your untimely death," she adds.
<El-Cideon> "Not directly," Kardanus says to Fran. "My belief is that one of their member smuggled some foul intoxicant into our stores of drink. One of the novices consumed this and it caused him to behave...irresponsibly." His teeth grind silently. "Or such is my belief."
<Steph> "I told you you were in danger," mumbles Stephanie. "Um. Yeah. There was a house with skeletons in it, too?"
<El-Cideon> "I'd do more than hug her if she'd let me," Mercedes says plaintively, rewarding the one friend that did not have a hand in her untimely death with a bonecrushing embrace. "Hey yeah, you did,"
<Franceska> "Is there a sample left? We could offer our services in trying to identify it and lead it back to the source."
<El-Cideon> "I'd do more than hug her if she'd let me," Mercedes says plaintively, rewarding the one friend that did not have a hand in her untimely death with a bonecrushing embrace. "Hey yeah, you did," she says, pointing to Stephanie. "That was a lot more obvious when she turned up in my bedroom out of nowhere and stabbed me a dozen times, but thanks for the note."
<El-Cideon> Kardanus nods. "Of course."
<Steph> "W-well, I'm sorry! I thought you got it!" replies Stephanie. "Umm. How can I pay you back?"
<El-Cideon> "Is she dead yet?"
<Steph> "A bunch of her friends are, but we're yet to meet again."
<El-Cideon> "Well, that's be a hell of a start. Talk to me once you've got that locked down and we'll talk about what the interest on your account's come to."
<Franceska> "You were the one who first told us she was dangerous," Franceska tells Mercedes at that, tilting her head curiously. "But pointless recriminations aside, you really had no idea about that Xenobia woman who is your neighbour? She was summoning demons! Nothing?"
<Steph> "Yeah, right, I'll get on that. And I'll pick you up something nice when I come back, then."
<El-Cideon> "Who?" Mercedes pauses to search her memory. "She's one of those enchanters over on mages' row, I think? Sells trinkets and such? Can't say I know her to speak of."
<Julia> "We really are very sorry," Julia assures her embarrassedly. "Whatever you want from us is only fair... just be careful? Your killer is still out there."
* Franceska looks terribly disappointed.
<El-Cideon> "You're right, she is," Mercedes says, the spark of an idea visibly kindling within her. "So you know what you guys can do? You're all my bodyguards until she's dead. You're conscripted. She can stab you next time."
<Julia> "Okay," Julia shrugs. She's not very stabbable after all.
<Franceska> "We can discuss payment some time we are not imposing on a temple, then," Franceska voices, before turning back to the priests. "Could I trouble you to preserve the other body?"
<Julia> "Although we do need to pay said temple, don't we?" Julia turns her attention on Kardanus.
<Franceska> "That goes without question."
<El-Cideon> "It'll be an earthly season before he can do that again--" the priestess warns, but Kardanus cuts her off. "I had thought to give her proper burial. Why do you ask?" To Julia, with an air of sheepishness: "Well, yes, the service is usually accompanied by a donation to cover costs and associated hardship...previous patrons have usually found it appropriate to compensate us as much as ten thousand gold pieces for the effort." He sounds embarrassed to quote such a high figure. "But six thousand would be equally respectable in my eyes," he adds apologetically.
<Franceska> "I have resources," Franceska elaborates, not in the mood to play games after the day she had just had. "Regrettably, I am forced to stay here for perhaps as long as a week or two longer, but I will be returning home and then I can see about utilizing them. And should I be successful, I can easily arrange for a job for her back home."
<Steph> "For now, I've got the scratch," notes Stephanie, rummaging around in her bag, and producing another, smaller bag.
<El-Cideon> "If you wish," Kardanus says with a nod. "She will be well cared for."
<Franceska> "Thank you. I will return when I am ready to leave, then."
<Julia> Julia likewise rummages through the handy haversack, pulling out the bag of cash they got from the dao. "I hope this is suitable?" she says, grunting a bit at the weight of it as she hands it over.
<El-Cideon> The priests don't bother to count it. "I am sure that it shall be," Kardanus says. "Do take better care of yourselves in the future, won't you?" he adds to Mercedes and company.
<Julia> "Yes, we will take much more care to plan our actions and stick to our plans in the future," Julia agrees with a stern note in her voice.
<El-Cideon> "Thank you ever so much!" Rosemund says with a bow. "May the lord of sunlight always shine upon your forest."
<Steph> "That'll happen," mutters Stephanie in Abyssal.
<Franceska> "Moving on, how about the two of you staying at a room in the same inn to be on the safe side?" Franceska offers Mercedes.
<Steph> "Yeah, uh, this place ain't real friendly to demons right now. Or things that look like demons," adds Stephanie, rubbing her head. "Honestly, we weren't sure if it was a race crime or what."
<El-Cideon> "Have to check on all my girls and boys," Mercedes says. "Make sure they all know I'm up and about again, before one of them gets the bright idea to run the place for me." She points a finger right in Franceska's face. "And I meant what I said, you people aren't leaving my side until she's dead. So dead nobody'll bring her back again."
<Steph> "Hold up. Are we waiting for her to come at us? Or are you and us going at her?"
<El-Cideon> Mercedes puts her hands on her hips. "Well, do you even know where she is?"
<Julia> Well her minions will have to wait a little bit longer then. Hopefully they won't be stolen or buried someplace hard to find in the meantime. "Haven't seen her since we got back here, so I suppose not."
<Steph> "She came from someplace, right? She's like a Yuan-Ti or something," replies Stephanie, straining her mind. "And a bunch of her goons came at us, but I don't think they'll try it like that again if we're loitering in the city."
<Franceska> "Unless tomorrow is their best chance at taking that Eye from the dao during all the commotion."
<El-Cideon> "Tomorrow?" Mercedes echoes.
<Julia> "Remember I said the dwarf paladin was going to kill all the dao tomorrow?" Julia reminds her.
<Steph> "Yeah, the Dao are getting run out of town. Or killed," notes Stephanie.
<Franceska> "Either way, quite a lot of confusion."
<El-Cideon> "Him and what army?" Mercedes asks. "Bringing anyone else to the party?"
<Julia> "He has a bunch of followers, but to be honest they didn't impress much against that demon from earlier," Julia admits.
<Steph> "Yeah, but they weren't really equipped to deal with that," points out Stephanie. "Dao, though, and a bunch of their human goons? I think they can handle that. Well. They could have, if he hasn't run out of soldiers."
<Franceska> "There may be a few more in reserve, and then the dao may just want to avoid a confrontation."
<El-Cideon> "Right, well, this has been a long time coming...Aria'd help but she's gone, who knows where, Ben might but he was out of town even before I got perforated--has that changed or anything?" She snaps her fingers. "I think I'll have a meeting with Miss Bello tonight, see if she can lend some of her goons. She'll do whatever I ask if it means getting into Lady E's bed again," she sing-songs, promptly amending: "But don't go spreading that about or anything."
<Franceska> "Oh yes! He was hiding skeletons in the basement, apparently. Troubling news."
<El-Cideon> "Thought people kept those in the closet?" Mercedes says in absolutely obligatory fashion. "Well, what else is there--" She turns to the priests of Ehlonna, conferring amongst themselves. "--you guys, want to help fight slavery?"
* Franceska cracks a grin. "If there was ever a time to make a stand, it truly is now."
<El-Cideon> "I may have acolytes on hand to tend to the wounded?" Kardanus suggests, not looking in much condition to help directly himself.
<Franceska> "It may be a matter of presenting a unified enough front to the dao to convince them, so having the townspeople out in support may prove invaluable."
<Steph> "I guess the problem is if they come back later with a bigger force?" muses Stephanie. "We really need to build a bridge between here and Solata, I reckon."
<Franceska> "Their methods only work as long as people agree to play along. After all, they hardly took slaves by force."
<El-Cideon> "I hardly imagine they took that child through peaceful means," a long-quiet Brenna points out.
<Julia> "Well, they probably did," Julia says, "Just because you lost on roulette you probably won't want to go with the nice dao who'll sell you to brain eaters."
<Franceska> "Her guardian is more likely to have sold her off than the dao abducting her from her room at night."
<Steph> "Yeah, but if they did, who would stop them?" points out Stephanie. "They might feel aggrieved and aim to send a message. Or hire bandits or something. The town could stand to have a bit more security in general. And if one of the guilds from back home starts up a persistant trade route here, they'll have a vested interest in it."
* Franceska shrugs. "Fine. If you are that vested in it, we could look into that upon return."
<El-Cideon> "But we should probably not stand around planning in someone else's house," Rosemund says with an apologetic bow to Kardanus. "Thank you again for everything."
<Julia> "Yes, thank you very much," Julia agrees, starting to head back out of the temple.
<El-Cideon> Brenna remains behind in the temple, professing it to be a more comfortable environment for her than any inn and begging its hospitality for the time being. Out in the street, as Mercedes and Charlotte stand chatting amongst themselves some way away, Rosemund quietly addresses all her friends. "There is something that I need to tell you all."
<Julia> "Yes?"
<Steph> "What's up, Rosie?"
* Franceska tilts her head, listening.
<El-Cideon> Rosemund grips her mace in white knuckles, and speaks calmly, but with insistent force. "The next time one of you says something like, 'We should turn this person over to the slavers because it will make things easier for us,' I am going to hit you on the head over and over again until you see reason! For your own good, of course."
<Steph> Stephanie blinks. "Alright. You're the boss, Rosie."
<Franceska> "Yes, it clearly hasn't made things easier for us," Franceska agrees, nodding.
<El-Cideon> She nods. "Good. Just so that we are all clear on this subject."
* Julia nods her head briskly up and down.
<Franceska> "Alright. And since we have this chance, we should decide on what we want to do about the drow, if anything."
<Steph> "Uh, yeah," replies Stephanie, absently. "Um. Well, what can we do?" she says, holding up her fingers. "If they're honest, they'll bring us that guy, and we can wash our hands of them. But that'll leave all those slaves still... being slaves," she admits. "I still think we should try and rescue them?"
<Julia> "Well," Julia lowers her voice, "The succubus and the minotaur would make useful shock troops for any assault, assuming I could raise them without bringing more upset down on our heads."
<Franceska> "I think we have to accept that doing that will constitute a betrayal, and so we will need to kill them all to the last to prevent them from retaliating afterwards."
<Steph> "At least they can't easily run away. That place only had the one exit, right?"
<El-Cideon> "It only had the one entrance that we saw," Rosemund confirms.
<Franceska> "So it looked. And we do have all the details about where they are keeping the slaves. But we would not be able to accept any surrender, you understand."
<Julia> "They must have a nearby means of traversing between there and their home city, unless it's all done with plane shifting," Julia says, tapping her chin in thought.
<Franceska> "It sounded as if they traveled to a portal a few days away from their mine."
<Steph> "We also need to think a bit longer-term," notes Stephanie. "We'd have to return the slaves to Peridot, right? There's nowhere else safe to go," she voices. "If there's a survivor, or other drow come and investigate, they'd probably hold Peridot responsible."
<Franceska> "We can bring them all the way back after explaining the situation to them," Franceska muses, "or find ways to reinforce Peridot's security, as you have suggested. Perhaps even both."
<Steph> "Should we make our intentions known here before we go?"
<Julia> "Lets wait and see if the dwarves beat the dao first?" Julia suggests. "If they do they could be helpful. If they don't... well, it suggests little hope for abolishing slavery afterwards, so would there even be much point in dealing with the drow?"
* Franceska purses her lips in consideration. "To a few who might agree with us, but only after we decide on a course of action unanimously. And even then, after we decide who and what will be joining us on the assault."
<Franceska> "Then you propose to table it until we see the resolution for the trading post and the drow delegation arrives?"
<Steph> "Yeah, let's do this in the order we've got it lined up," agrees Stephanie, after a moment. "We might get some more, uh, troops out of this, too, and that'll make a straight-up attack a better proposition."
<Julia> "Oh, absolutely!" Julia nods briskly. "If we move too soon we're not going to get William Alcembron brought to us are we?"
<Franceska> "What about the other captured... hero? Are we waiting on things to resolve with the drow before venturing out again?"
<Julia> "I suppose there's time, it was going to take weeks. But for now we ought to see how the Dao situation plays out. Not to mention keep Mercedes safe."
<Steph> Stephanie grunts. "I think so? We don't want to be in a sitution where the Dao, the Drow, and the illithid are all mad at us at once, and still have unfinished business here."
* Franceska nods. "I can work with that. Alright. In that case, we should be prepared for a fight tomorrow, whether it is due to our unfinished business or if the dwarves ask for our help."
<El-Cideon> ~