"Safiya's fool of a mother. Oh, she had no idea it was coming. She used every last cantrip she knew, but her loyal allies - her daughter, even - never arrived to save her."

Safiya reappears, behind the wizards and the erinyes. She looks horrified, and enraged.

Yeah, she's heard enough, thanks.

"Gloating is incredibly passé." She points a finger at this little prick and casts, Greater Spell Breach. Go get him, Safiya.

Safiya casts Extract Water Elemental. Khai screams in agony as every drop of water in his body flows out through his pores and forms into a vaguely humanoid shape, which begins pummeling his fellow student.

Khai's mummified corpse falls to the ground as the erinyes turn to attack Safiya.

That's Ciaveth's cue to go mess up that erinyes's day! She has haste, she can absolutely get between the erinyes and Safiya before the devil can make it to the squishy wizard.

Stabbing time!

One of the erinyes takes the bait (being stabbed) and attacks her; the other is still focused on the strange hostile wizard.

Safiya ignores her claws, which skitter off the barrier of her Premonition, and casts Baleful Polymorph. The erinyes turns into a squirrel, which Safiya then stomps on.

The erinyes gets so very stabbed for its trouble! She'd honestly be more worried about the other Red Wizard present, but Safiya sure solved that problem by turning the prick that reminded her vaguely of Bishop (may he rot in the dirt) into a water elemental. That squishy caster sure is having a bad time.

That particular squishy caster is having a very bad time, as a mass of sentient water is merrily beating him senseless and keeping him from casting any spells! Safiya tosses a couple of Magic Missiles at him from her staff, for variety.

Excellent. Ciaveth finishes off her erinyes, and then if there's anything left of that unfortunate subject of water based bludgeoning damage she can stab him too. But she suspects that she won't need to.

Yeah, he's gone by the time she's done with the erinyes.

"I always assumed Khai's ambition would get him killed," Safiya says distantly, "but I didn't think it would be by my hand. No matter... he will not be missed."

She nods. "No, I imagine not. He reminded me very much of someone I hated. And killed." She winces as she recalls what the little red prick was gloating about. "... I hope he was lying, but if he wasn't, I'm uh. Glad I helped get you some vengeance. And I'm sorry."

"I hope he was lying, too, but... he didn't have much reason to, did he? If he was telling the truth, I never should have left the academy when I did. My mother had the respect of the other wizards, but not their love. I'm running out of trustworthy people in my life. Just Kaji, and Master Djafi back at the academy... if he still lives."

"Do you need to depart and go back home? I'll understand."

"Thank you, but... I promised my mother I'd look after you. If those were her- her last orders, well, I'd like to honor them. Had the situation been reversed - had someone harmed me - her wrath would have been... merciless. I will grieve for my mother by helping you, and by finding Araman and crushing him."

Ciaveth nods. She understands that impulse very well.

"All right. Well, thank you." Her lip quirks, a bit. "That was very good use of the spell breach's opening, by the way, the water elemental was an excellent choice."

"Thank you. I'm going to guess you prepared that spell breach in the barrow in case I turned out to be, ah, a more traditional Red Wizard?" Her mouth quirks into a very slight smile.

Ciaveth smiles brightly back. "Of course! But this ended up seeming like a better time."

Safiya nods approvingly. "Reasonable of you."

She looks sadly at Lienna's ashes. "Lienna's association with my mother must have been very important... why else would Araman send his pawns all the way to Rashemen from Thay? Lienna was more than some common theater matron. At least Khai is dead, and Lienna's death avenged. I appreciate your help in killing the wretch."

"You're welcome. Though if I have an annoying git gloating at me, you absolutely owe me one for my help."

She's joking. ... A little. She's joking a little. Maybe Ammon Jerro will show up and she'll finally get to stab him in the throat like he deserves now that she doesn't need to work with him. A wizard would be very helpful for making that happen. It could happen. She should be prepared.

Safiya laughs. "I see how it is; you'd turn me against your enemies. Perhaps you've got a little touch of the Red Wizard in you, at that. Hopefully just a touch. Still, it's comforting."

"Good! I like to think I'm pragmatic." She looks at the charred remains of Lienna. "Do you suppose there's a cleric in this city able to resurrect her? I could afford a Raise Dead, if perhaps not a proper Resurrection. I have..." she resolutely tries not to think of the table that she definitely didn't see, "many, many questions for her."

"The question, I think, is 'would she come back?'" Safiya says. "Remember, she killed herself to avoid capture, and unless one of us cast the spell, which we can't, she'd get only the information that some Neutral witch or another wanted to resurrect her. Such a witch could easily be a patsy, and if they raised her under the right circumstances, it would be impossible to escape even by suicide. It's worth an attempt, but we should be ready for such an attempt to fail."

"... Eugh. Yes. You're right. And we'd probably still be out of a lot of the money to pay for the resurrection, because I bet the diamond merchants would not give full refunds. Even if we bring all of the diamonds back the day of." She makes a face. "Let's try just asking her staff first, that sounds much cheaper."

"Yes, let's. Shall we leave this grim place?"

"... In... in a bit, I'm. I'm going to check out the... table. In the other room."

The table that she thinks she maybe had chest surgery on. That table. The table she's been trying not to think about because it makes thinking very hard because she's angry and scared and furious about the associated helplessness and violation and and look there are many emotions, okay, she'd been putting them on hold for a reason.

Time to go check out the table. The trauma table. The table with blood that is probably hers.

Little care was taken in the table's construction, save to ensure that its surface was smooth and that it was long enough to accomodate a prone humanoid. It smells newly built, the wood felled from local Rashemi trees.

It continues to draw her eye, and there's an impulse to reach out and touch.