Pain, pain in her chest and pain on a deep existential level. It would be cripplingly to any normal human.
Voices around her, in a language she’s never spoken before, although somehow she can understand them.
Words spoken with meaningful intent, although there isn’t any usage of the Force detectable with them. The pain is just noticeably attenuated.
His cure spell didn’t work. He’s unsure of what the problem, but he’s trying a detect magic, then cycling through his alignment detection.
The pain stops. She is on a stretcher with people standing over her, at some sort of primitive festival or gathering.
Ow. What now.
Hm. No memory of getting here. Bad. She doesn't recognize any of these people, which is good and bad. No immediate hostile intent, except from that bearded one. But from the feel of it such is more or less his baseline state. Not a present threat. Good. Language unrecognized, not detectably related to any she knows. Bad. Robe, yes, no tears or suspicious stains. Saber concealed in its customary holster, yes, crystal whispering softly at the brush of her will. Good.
Half a second after the silver woman finishes, Darth Occlus propels herself to her feet in a single smooth motion, fully expecting that anyone whose head is in the way of her rise will remove it in good order or accept having it telekinetically nudged out of her way. (Her chest twinges painfully. Probably the worst pain she's felt in ten or fifteen years. But not worse than what she endured back then, and no sign of it registers on her face or bearing.)
Nothing about her detects as magic, which is somewhat strange, because she is strong enough to detect as Evil, and adventurers strong enough to detect ought to have at least one magic item.
”Who are you? What was that injury?”
She glances around the surroundings, in no great hurry to respond to the man's questions. Metal armor, bladed weapons... good heavens, are those actual crossbows? Not a blaster in sight. Quality of manufacture is... generally poor, to her eye. She can practically see the weave on some of this cloth. No droids, no non-humanoids. Uncontacted primitives? That burst of healing remains an open question, as does her arrival.
"I am Darth Occlus. Who are you, and where is this place?"
“Are you claiming not to know? You’re in Kenabres, at the Worldwound. You were brought in badly injured.”
“Hulrun, please, the woman looks like she’s been through enough. Why don’t you give her some time to recover, let her enjoy the festivities.”
“It’s Prelate Hulrun. And I am Terendelev, patron and protector of this city. Your injury was strange, I’m not sure if it’s fully healed. Do you feel alright?”
"A pleasure to make your acquaintance, I am sure. And while I thank you for whatever stabilizing effect your first aid may have had, I am quite capable of seeing to my own health. And I would prefer not to discuss such in so... public a setting."
“Why don’t you enjoy some of the festivities, and we can answer each other’s questions tomorrow? You can ask for Terendelev at the Cathedral.”
And if she doesn’t show up of her own accord he will have her detained. He unfortunately doesn’t have the spells or manpower to arrest and properly interrogate every single adventurer with an Evil aura, but she is strange enough to be noteworthy.
"I have very little interest in your festivities. You may direct me instead to a library, if you have such things here, or failing that, somewhere I might obtain private lodgings. And Prelate Hulrun, if you are looking for somewhere more productive to direct that anger, might I suggest investigating some of the beings present who do intend to do immediate harm?" She indicates a handful of people whose minds, to her senses, do not match their appearance. "That one, for instance, is plotting to ambush those girls and tear their faces off."
“That’s a very serious accusation.”
Nevertheless, he motions over some guards and prepares them to detain the people she indicated.
She prepares herself to cast a spell or return to her true form as needed. If this woman is some kind of mind reader or has some innate sense for demons or cultists and she’s right…
It looks those guards are gathering to take him in for questioning. He would really rather just teleport away, but one of the few instructions that was made absolutely clear (with the implication of Areelu or Deskari personally hunting you down and killing you for violating it), was not to show off any teleports until the attack began.
Fuck it, he impales a human on his claw and chucks them at the guards. He was really looking forward to cutting off someone’s face, but he will have to settle for something faster as an opening move.
Interesting reaction. Not really Occlus's problem at this point. She could almost certainly use this distraction to slip away and find the library on her own. On the other hand, the Prelate does seem to have some kind of legitimate law enforcement authority if he's commanding those guards, and 'patron and protector' implies some political sway. Perhaps a small effort now will buy enough goodwill to make her time here easier.
Occlus negligently waves a hand. The airborne human is gently caught and floated down to rest behind Terendelev. The stab wounds cease bleeding and a small infusion of lifeforce ensures the victim will not die of their wounds in the next few minutes. At the same time, the horned alien can flip into the air, dangling just above the ground, and find itself unable to move any of its limbs of its own volition, as though the air itself has solidified around them. Incidentally, it will also be unable to breathe in through mouth or nose. She finds this generally helps to encourage compliance.
(Anyone observing Occlus instead of the action may notice her eyes briefly flash an ethereal violet.)
Very convenient. Also, cultists selling out other demons and cultists to build their cover or even just as a temporary distraction is a trick he's seen... more times than he can recall off the top of his head.
He prepares to take her in for questioning. Her spellcasting is a bit strange, silent and with minimal somatic components, but that means he just needs to be extra sure to thoroughly break her arms if she doesn't cooperate.
Terendelev has the perception and spellcraft to note that the woman's 'spellcasting' doesn't feel like proper spellcasting at all. Maybe she's a psion? Terendelev would be interested to meet a psion, she has actually met psychic casters before, and even they felt more like conventional spellcasting than this woman's ability.
For now she focuses on the situation at hand, a cure to follow up on the woman's healing. And how did she manage both healing and a levitation/restraining effect at once?
He's been observing the city closely. In principle everyone was supposed to wait for the locusts to start swarming and a wave of reinforcements to teleport in as their cue, but you don't manage a demon swarm without learning to build some tolerance in your plans for impulsive idiots. He lets his swarms loose and looks for a moment when Terendelev is distracted.
Across the city locusts appear out of nowhere, illusions break to reveal demons, and cultists give shouts of "Hail Baphomet" and "Praise Deskari".
Bah. She did not sign up for... whatever this is. A civil war?
One deep breath of frustration in as she raises her hands-
-and on the exhale it gives form to the Force in the form of vast swathes of lightning leaping off her hands to target every newly-revealed alien and human who gave sign of joining them in the festival square. (She'd already picked a side by her actions. Might as well see it through for now. She can always kill the rest later.)
It kinda tickles! For a second he was worried the spell only looked like lightning and was actually fire or something. Have a stinking cloud funny lightning person!
Some demons take a moment to realize some ignorant spellcaster apparently tried a lightning spell on them (although strangely they didn’t feel their spell resistance interact with it at all). Others are so caught up in combat or reveling in violence they don’t even notice. Enough demons respond that she now, in addition to the stinking cloud, has a fireball exploding on top of her, as well as some shimmering rainbow chaotic energy trying to rip her apart, and a few demons charging at her.
One human cultist, triumphantly shouting and holding aloft some bulls horns, is slain by the lightning.
She begins transforming back into her natural form, this isn’t a lone demon but a full on invasion.
A booming voice echos through the city.
”Behold crusader Gods, behold my swarm. Your city will fall, and your the flesh of your followers feed my hunger…”
Annoying. And annoyances should be crushed, like an insect under her boot.
The counterattacks take long enough that the tickle of her danger sense has her moving in plenty of time to vacate the affected radius. Everyone who stood up against her lightning is now slammed into the ground with force enough to crack plascrete by the time the voice starts blathering.
The ground is not cold iron, but with enough force that doesn't matter! The demons still have several times the toughness and life force of ordinary mundane humans so the first slam doesn't actually kill them.
If that spellcaster succeeds in giving Terendelev space to think, she might start layering on protective spells and make his job a lot harder. So, although the moment isn't ideal...
Time Stop
A Gate (from a carefully hoarded supply of scrolls) to the border of Kenabres, far enough from the Wardstone that it won’t interfere (just in case it’s still working that well).
An immense leap at extreme speeds so he has momentum even if the Wardstone ends his Time Stop-
-And his Time Stop has ended but he’s on top of Terendelev before she has time for a spell. One smooth motion to pin and trip Terendelev...
...but she has the attention to spare and sees him coming, and he can't quite trip her to set up a single decisive and lethal blow. Her claws and bite and tail barely scratch him, but he still feels immense rage. His locust swarms across the city abandon what little pretense of normal locust behavior they had to attack without care or caution.
From a mortal perspective (that has the reflexes to observe Deskari in the first place) it will have seemed he simply appeared midair near the apogee of an impossible leap and then landed at extreme speed.
Ugly fucker, isn't he. Too bad the only close air support they seem to have is a winged lizard that is not presently flying. Even so, she's taken out walkers that size by herself before. Best to assume her favored approach will be shrugged off same as the smaller ones did. Which begins to make her somewhat angry.
Her lightsaber drops into her hand and ignites, sweeping a bloody crimson blur across the battlefield as she charges to strike at the oversized insect's legs. At her full speed and this distance, it's practically a teleport. A crackling bubble a saber's radius around her keeps her personal space clear of the swarming locusts.
"A gnawing mortal gnat... AHHH"
His insult is interrupted by the realization that he has entirely lost his five of his six legs. Still, he can actually fly faster than he can walk and he can regrow his legs later, so he presses the attack against Terendelev. The Wardstone and her are his two most critical targets, if he can take care of them his swarm will ultimately prevail. He carves great chunks out of Terendelev. None of his blow are fatal, but just another round of that and she should be dead. Most importantly, he lands a sting on Terendelev. Even if he's forced to retreat before he can finish her off, his swarm can devour her from the inside out.
A 'halfling' notes Deskari's pain. The primary plan called for her to use the crossbow, but it would be better to get the bolt off himself than miss the opportunity entirely. They fire a crossbow bolt that pierces deeply into Deskari's chest.
What are they, some kind of monk? They are so absurdly fast.
He could take at least a few more wounds like that, but if the monk goes for his head...
Change of plans. He slashes Riftcarver deep into the ground, opening up a chasm deep enough to reach the caves below and long enough to reach the Wardstone and drop it into the caves below. With the same slash, he tears open a Gate to the Abyss and lets himself drop down into it.
She wants to pursue Deskari, but she is very badly wounded and wouldn't have much of a chance even if she wasn't. She can feel his poison at work. She uses a heal, but something about his poison still feels like it is crawling around within her.
Occlus flips over backwards in midair and lands softly on the lizard's head, extinguishing and stowing her saber in the same motion. Good time to pause and take stock of the broader situation.
The demons have fled from the town square with the... monk? Monk-sorcerer? Whatever they are, they can make Deskari himself flee. But elsewhere across the city the demons and cultists continue to fight. More demons keep teleporting in and the city's defenders are struggling to form any kind of lines of battle.
He directs his swarm to pay careful attention to the monk that dared to challenge him. Also he has a parting gift for Terendelev. He directs his swarms at her in case it isn't enough.
It is kind of awkward (maybe even a little humiliating) having a human standing on her head, but the human did just save her from Deskari. The heal didn't quite get everything, she starts to cast another...
She loses the spell and screams in pain as fiendish insect hatch within her and gnaw their way free. It isn't nearly enough to kill her, but the pain is so intense she is practically paralyzed.
Unpleasant to sense. Nothing else she can solve immediately, unknown here as she is, so... Congratulations, Terendelev. You are the top of the priority list.
She kneels down and presses a hand to the top of the lizard's head, rapidly taking in the details of its biological structure. It's certainly... unique. Not that the biologic sciences are her exact area of expertise. She knows enough to guess that those burrowing and biting creatures are the main problem, though. Disable all of those and start extracting from the corpus. There's enough death and dying around that lifeforce is free for the taking. Gather that up and begin investing in repairs starting from where the deepest burrows end and working outward. No sense in fixing something she'll just have to break again getting the parasites all the way out. Speaking of parasites, spend some effort swatting down the swarming locusts in the area.
(A lesser practitioner* would need to concentrate on one task at a time. Occlus is not a lesser practitioner. She splits her focus and is still more effective than ninety-five percent of other people would be.)
*read: literally anyone other than Occlus
Terendelev wants to say to tell the monk to focus on the swarms around the area, she'll live thanks to her heal, but actually that was the single most horrific sensation she's felt in her long long life, so she'll let the monk get the rest of swarm out of her.
She'll take care of some of the swarms that are starting to gather with a blast of her icy breath.
He can feel the swarms dying, it looks like Terendelev will live. He is tempted to go back through his Gate before it closes, but the Crusader Gods are likely paying close attention now and might bother to intervene to smite him directly. He carefully notes every trait he can about the monk, he'll see about having her assassinated later.
Well, 'Darth Occlus' probably isn't a Deskari cultist, there aren't many objectives Deskari could have the would lead him to allow himself to be harmed and to fail to kill Terendelev. But he isn't ruling out the possibility that she serves some other Evil God or Entity. For now he'll focus on killing the retreating demons.
Once her work on the lizard is completed, Occlus vaults gracefully down to the ground.
"Is that sort of creature usual here?" she asks.
“We’re on the border of the Worldwound, so yes, although this the worst attack we’ve had in decades, and I believe the first time that Deskari himself has risked showing up on the material plane. Are you unfamiliar with demons? I would assume so from your attempt at using a lightning spell (…or whatever that effect was) against them.”
"Not a species- set of species?- I have encountered before, no. Well. One lives and learns."
“They aren’t so much a species like mortal races are. They’re a type of outsider, you know, from an afterlife plane? The Abyss in the case of demons.”
She doesn’t have time to give her introductory speech for ‘adventurers that came to the worldwound without knowing anything about demons’. She needs to focus on what is relevant.
“Of their combat abilities… your speed seems sufficient to evade their more physical attacks and spells. Is your will strong enough to consistently resist mind control? (A few types of demons have some powerful enchantments.)”
If the answer is yes, then Terendelev will figure out how to point her at the most pressing area… securing the Wardstone is the highest priority.
“Excellent, I think that is the single biggest danger if you aren’t familiar with demons.”
“I am going to secure the Wardstone, it is a powerful artifact that normally blocks demons’ ability to teleport. The chasm Deskari has opened has unseated it and I think dropped it into the caverns beneath the city. Will you accompany me?”
Terendelev lowers her back and leans to suggest hoping on for a ride.
"Very well." Occlus is accumulating a significant number of questions for after the fight is over. This is why she wanted to visit the library, dammit. Back on to the flying lizard.
The chasm opens into a cave system with glowing fungi and subterranean flora that could apparently grow in nearly lightless condition. There are traces of a variety of fauna, such as shed carapaces of giant insects.
Lying on its side is an immense glowing monolith. Outwardly it seems fine, but within there are souls practically at war with each other, with a minority outright struggling to break free of the monolith.
She will get down to inspect it more closely. "This is your Wardstone, then?"
"Yes. It was created with the help of Angels at the end of the failure of the 2nd Mendevian Crusade against the Worldwound." She'll elide exactly what form the Angel's help took.
"One standard Wardstone alone merely bars demons in a 300-foot radius, but there are multiple Wardstones. Adjacent linked Wardstones form a line barring demons from teleporting in or across it. They can cross on foot, but it weakens and stuns them long enough for patrols of mortal soldiers to take them down. Something must be very wrong with it for demons to be able to freely teleport into this city."
That's right, Darth Occlus does have some unusual sensory/detection ability or spell. Well, if she's already sensed that much...
"A number of Angels voluntary sealed themselves within the Wardstones to power them. Their wills should be of one accord, focused and united on defending against the demons. Something must be very wrong..."
If Darth Occlus focuses, she may realize that the outward appearance of the Wardstone is masked by an illusion, a great red scar throbs across its surface.
"One reason I generally prefer to avoid sacrificial rituals, especially ones that enable the victim to continue in some form. People are changeable."
She will reach out to touch the Wardstone, flexing her power in an attempt to dispel the masking.
Something about the Wardstone rejects her touch with a crackle of energy, but it does disrupt and dispel the illusion in the process.
“What did you… oh.”
That was an illusion she dispelled. The Wardstone was already very badly damaged.
“There is a team that travels between the Wardstones to periodically perform rituals to maintain them. …this might be worse than they can deal with. For the time being we need to guard it from further corruption by the demons. Will you be able to hold this position? I plan to ferry more people down.”
"I believe so. Do try not to get infested again. I'd prefer not to be blamed for whatever happened here if you died."
It took Deskari himself to infest her! Oh wait, was that a joke? She sort of roar chuckles at it.
“I should be back quickly with reinforcements.”
Then once Terendelev has left, Occlus will settle in for a brief meditation. She keeps part of her awareness focused outwards, of course. She should be able to sense anything approaching well before it presents a threat to her. Perhaps not if it teleports in. But she's still confident in her reaction times in that case.
However, she is more interested in the Wardstone, and the fight that takes place within. What can she glean from these sacrificed 'angels'?
Half of the Angels stand firm to their duty, they are prepared to hold their position within the Wardstone as long as is necessary. Indeed, were it not for the other half of the Angels, they could perhaps hold the Wardstone indefinitely, their minds are both subtly and overtly different than mortal humans. They are able to track and hold to their commitments with a will almost no mortal could muster, and their emotions, intentions, overt desires, and subconscious reflexes align with a consistency unlike any Darth Occlus has encountered before, save perhaps for some of the most emotionally stable and ideologically committed Jedi.
The other half of the Angels are divided, but have a single unified demand, they must be let out, one way another. Some of them are filled with rage, longing to unleash their fury on the demons that have warped them so. Some are filled with despair, longing for an end one way or another. Others feel hatred, not just for the demons, but also for the mortals they pointlessly swore to protect nearly a century ago. Overall, their minds are actually almost identical in structure to those of the faithful Angels, save for a few key twists and warps within them.
Their struggle resonates beyond this Wardstone, given time to fester, it might effect other Wardstones, eventually corrupting the entire Wardstone line.
Can she reach into the Wardstone and affect any of these beings? Not that she necessarily intends to do so immediately, but she would like to confirm whether such a thing is possible for her. Obviously it was possible for whoever caused this damage.
The Wardstone rebuffs her. She’ll need to use a lot more force, or maybe use some kind of tool that can penetrate it’s defenses.
Good to know. She won't press the issue for now.
Does anything seek to interrupt her vigil before reinforcements arrive?
There are some monstrously sized centipedes creeping around not to far away, but for the moment they seem repelled by the glow of the Wardstone or maybe the daylight streaming in from above.
Terendelev is back in a few minutes, with two people held in her claws and one riding on her back. She drops them off and is off again. She calls as she flies off.
"I might be slower with the next group of reinforcements depending on how much help is needed on the surface."
"I've saved my smite if any demons look particularly troublesome... " Wait if she's the monk from earlier she probably doesn't need the help, but Seelah should still list all her resources.
"...and I still have two lay on hands left if you need any healing."
"I don't think our hero will need much help, but I have plenty of channels if it somehow becomes relevant. You are the monk with the lightning who gave Deskari himself a hard time earlier, aren't you?"
"'The monk with the lightning'," she says dryly, not moving from her seated meditation pose. "That is one way to put it, I suppose. For now, the only threats in the area are a few monstrous insects lurking in the dark. Perhaps you would like to take this moment of relative calm to introduce yourselves."
"If you have another way you prefer to be known you had better make it known quickly, the bards are probably already putting together something in praise of your dismemberment of Deskari."
"I am Count Daeran Arendae, count of blah, blah, responsible for something, something. I would prefer to be performing my duties to the city by nobly guarding my estate from the demons and providing critical morale support, but the demon attack cut off my path back to my mansion and Terendelev was quite insistent."
He flashes a smile, as if sharing a joke.
"And this is, uh, Dale."
Dale is actually another guard's name, but he would prefer not to be apart of this conversation with whatever blasphemy or Lèse majesté the Count will throw around, so he'll just sort of nod.
"I'm Seelah, Paladin of Iomedae. I'm at the Worldwound for the same reason as most crusaders, this is were people needed help the most."
Two people who may matter, and one who does not. "I am Darth Occlus."
Seelah, meanwhile is squinting and focusing... she flinches a tiny bit. Well, lots of people make mistakes, maybe Darth is here to make up for them?
A lesson in not looking if you are not prepared for what you might see, perhaps.
"Indeed it is. It means that I am a Dark Lord of the Sith."
"From Seelah's flinch I would suppose you aren't from some charmingly foreign place were 'darkness' has pleasant and kind associations?"
"I think everyone has guessed you aren't local from the little mix up of trying to use lightning on the demons. Not that it wasn't very impressive lightning! The mortal cultist you caught in the mix was cooked very thoroughly, I could smell his lightning roasted flesh from across the square!"
He continues with his light flirty tone even as he jokes about electrocution.
She hadn't known not to use lightning against demons... but she isn't a veteran like Darth Occlus apparently is. Also she'd rather they didn't joke about someone's death, cultist or not.
"I've not encountered one of these 'demons' before, so that result was slightly vexing. The lightning is one of my favored solutions."
He's actually curious now. He keeps up the playful flirty presentation though.
"An experienced adventurer like yourself hasn't run into any demon summonings before? Not even just the temporary version with a spell?"
"Well now you've gotten me really curious, but don't spoil the mystery all at once. So what brings you to travel so far to the Worldwound? Looking to save your immortal soul with some demon slaying? Or looking for an acceptable target to show the fell might of the Sith on?"
Speaking of which, an emaciated, almost skeletal, red-skinned demon is trying to creep around the chasm to spy on them. It is some distance away and the others haven't noticed yet.
Don't be shy. Come and say hello. She insists.
And then as soon as it's yanked over, Occlus will cut its head off.
Tucking her saber away and settling back down, she responds to the Count's question. "One might call it a research expedition."
He laughs at that. "I haven't heard of that immunity! Although if you sword works via very intense fire I think you'll need to find a different solution for Brimoraks, and maybe a few other demon species! I don't think I've seen a sword quite like that before so I couldn't say for sure."
"That is not exactly how it works, but I will bear the information in mind. If you have other such interesting information about various demons, I would like to hear it."
"You would have to consult someone better informed than me, maybe the Prelate would be willing to spare some time from his busy schedule to give you a lecture?" And he will find an excuse to tag along for that hilarious interaction.
Seelah at least knows the basics!
"They are weak to cold iron weapons and resistant to mundane weaponry... but I guess that isn't a problem for you. Lots of them are resistant to different kinds of energy, you know, cold and acid and fire, in the cases they aren't outright immune. Oh, and they are all Chaotic and Evil."
Occlus has as many as several follow-up questions, because the sketch of the systems she has so far gathered makes little sense. Almost certainly this will rapidly exceed Seelah's ability to answer, in which case she will shift the topic to defining the demons she has so far seen more exhaustively.
Seelah knows some of the very basics... she can describe Dretches, Babaus, and Succubi in general appearance and some of their most notable abilities. She can describe common iconography and weapons of Baphomet and Deskari cultists (but glaives are popular among Shelynites also).
Daeran knows more, but he seems to prefer framing his knowledge as quips and sarcastic remarks injected into Seelah's more practical commentary. When Seelah runs out of things to say, he goes on a full tirade about the type of sinner alleged to make up each type of demon.
"...and Brimoraks, the punishment of Pharasma for arson is apparently enabling quite a bit more arson, really kind of a questionable plan with skewed incentives if you think about it."
"Pharasma isn't actually trying to punish people in a sensible or fair way, if she was, no one would suffer for eternity." Seelah hasn't had a lot of catechism, but she got that point down. It may be counterintuitive to most people but it made sense to Seelah.
"You should share your theological opinions with some of the local preachers, some of them seem quite eager to lecture sinners on the eternal suffering justly waiting for them."
Dymitr actually knows quite a few more demons than that, but he would rather not be involved in this conversation, please and thank you.
"Are you saying you've never before looked through a scry at your future eternal fate? Are scries as hard to come by as demon summoning in Sarusan*? Or are you saying you're from outside Pharasma's system entirely? You don't seem like a gibbering horror from beyond our comprehension, but maybe you're also extraordinarily talented at shapeshifting?"
* whatever translation Darth Occlus is under indicates this is metonymy for a distant and mysteriously isolated place.
She hasn't looked at a scry before! Is that something nobles in Mendev do? Well, if it actually sets someone straight Seelah would say that is a sensible use of a spell (and the money to pay for it), but somehow she is getting the feeling that hasn't happened in Count Arendae's case.
"In all my studies, ten thousand years of lore across ten thousand worlds, never have I encountered so much as a scrap of proof for what you claim so easily verified. Certainly I have killed those who claim to be gods, simple conmen and those with power to back their pretensions both. But all proved mortal and fragile in the end."
"From outside the system it must be, else we share a distressingly persuasive hallucination."
Odds are that she is the conwoman in this situation, but he'll bite. At worse he can laugh it off later as a deliberate amusement.
"Are you saying those ten thousand worlds don't have any horrible Evil afterlives, or don't have any afterlives at all? I would like an alternative that is better than nothingness and doesn't involve sucking up to the 'Good' Gods or their churches."
He says it just like all the jokes he has been making, but with keen enough sense one might detect an edge of desperation.
"Sucking up to the Good Gods isn't necessary... I think it actually doesn't even help much. What helps is not doing Evil and being Good and kind to other people."
She addresses Darth Occlus.
"I think if you are powerful enough to cut off pieces of Deskari you can probably just buy a spell to visit an afterlife directly? I mean, I think you need a really powerful cleric to cast that sort of spell, but probably you can handle dangerous enough adventuring to afford one, or maybe get one to use it in gratitude for saving this city from Deskari."
He suppresses a flash of anger. Normally getting a rise out of a Paladin would be his entire objective, but this is actually something he cares about. He should follow up with another jibe at the Paladin if he wants to keep showing the same carefree attitude, but he his stuck on one on the moment. He settles for practical information instead.
"The spell you need for that is planeshift, I think Terendelev can cast it. I don't think the 'Good' afterlives take tourists but I've heard Axis does, maybe you can get Terendelev to show you around."
"I have no interest in an afterlife, and certainly not in one that requires I surrender my self to the whim of an arbitrary and capricious power. I am Sith, and my fate is mine to decide and no other's. In life, and in death."
"You can decide to be kind and helpful and still decide your own fate! If you want to be a Cleric or a Paladin you might need to give up some control, but neither of those are a necessary part of being a Good person!"
He makes an overly exaggerated eyeroll and sigh as Seelah speaks, but waits for her to finish before following up.
"You can also clear up any Evil alignment with enough demon slaying! Adventurers come from around the world to balance out the ledger for whatever petty banditry or whoring or bastards or 'accidental' civilian deaths or even intentional murders they've done. I even bet the Abadarans have a ledger worked out on exchange rates. How many dead demons do you think balances out 'accidentally' killing a whore?"
His voice is dripping with sarcasm shifting to bitterness as he finishes.
How many dead demons balances out getting an entire guard retinue killed in a 'prank'? Dymitr thinks to himself but of course doesn't say out loud.
"Girl, you seem to be under the impression that the judgement your Pharasma's system makes of me is something I care about. It is not. I do not recognize the authority of any entity to claim objective truth about my moral worth, and I see no reason to let an attempt at such a claim dictate my behaviors. I will continue to act as I see fit and as serves my goals. And if upon my death Pharasma seeks to direct the course of my soul, then they are my enemy and I will treat them as all slavers that ever attempt to prey upon me." The air grows heavy with the weight of Occlus's displeasure, a subtle pressure upon the mind.
Dearan claps at the speech. "Well said!" His voice at least seems genuine.
He is considering his next line, (he thinks Seelah is starting to get irritated, but in Daeran's expert opinion is not anywhere close to her limit yet), but is interrupted.
Terendelev is back with 4 more people!
"Have any demons tried attacking yet? I am trying to decide how to prioritize getting more people here compared to organizing them elsewhere."
Two archers take up positions to cover some of the angles of approach.
A man with a spear and another with a longsword ready themselves to cover them against any demons coming close.
One of the archers has taken up such an angle she can study Darth Occlus carefully.
A bow would be slightly less a suicidal weapon to face her with, not that it would help. Let her look. Occlus has nothing to hide.
"A single scout," she indicates the corpse. "Nothing serious."
"I'll focus my attention on the rest of the city then... I could put us in constant communication with a telepathic bond so you could instantly request aid or reinforcement?"
She looks to Anevia as she says this, if Darth Occlus refuses, she could just loop in Anevia.
Right, Darth Occlus doesn't know standard demon lore, maybe she doesn't know standard adventuring spells either?
"Yes, the spell only sends what you intentionally try to communicate. Even novices can figure out how to use the spell appropriately. It lasts 20 minutes per caster circle, and I would be casting it from a scroll at minimum strength, so we'll have an hour and a half of use out of it. And it can handle multiple people... I think Anevia here would be a good choice of an additional person to loop in."
Terendelev takes out a sheet of heavy parchment and speaks (the translation effect Darth Occlus is under can almost translate it, as if the sounds are related to but not actually proper words) and makes some complex gestures and arm motions. The spell itself doesn't feel like any kind of force usage, but the telepathic bond itself is something Darth Occlus can make sense of. It seems exactly as Terendelev explained.
Just double checking, can you hear me? You should be able to speak back. With some practice you can get a bit of other sensory modalities, but it should work easily and simply for basic speech.
I can. Do you want me to give a rundown on common demon traits and types and such? (From the usage of lightning earlier I'm assuming you haven't had one before.)
Hm, straightforward enough. Let's see...
I am receiving. Such a thing would be welcome. I spoke briefly with the Count and the Paladin on the topic, though I sense neither is exceptionally well-educated on such matters.
I'll let Anevia handle this, I may need to concentrate, but I will respond to any queries directed at me. If there is any sign the demons and cultists are organizing an attempt to take the Wardstone that you are not completely confident you can defend against you should tell me.
She flies off again.
Two additional crusaders join them by taking a great leap into the chasm, slowing down to safe speeds in midair with a spell one of them casts. The one casting the spell is also brandishing his sword as he leaps.
"Show offs..." she mutters under her breath. There are always some novice adventurers that you can just tell are going to try taking on a demon past their skills and get an express passage to Pharasma's court.
Anyway, so demons, almost universally immune to electricity and poison, heavily resistant to acid, cold, and fire, capable of telepathy, do not need to eat or sleep, technically need to breathe but are resistant to lots of things that would mess up a human breathing...
Anevia has a standard spiel she can go through, starting with basics and essentials, then covering specific demon types, starting with the most common and covering their most tactically relevant traits in general detail. She will ask occasional questions back just to make sure Darth Occlus is getting the gist correctly. Her standard spiel is about half an hour and at least mentions Dretch, Succubus, Incubus, Babau, Quasit, Abrikandilu, Schir, and Brimorak (assuming Darth Occlus doesn't ask her to hurry up or express impatience).
She understands how to learn, and in this domain Anevia has more knowledge. She listens, asks pertinent questions, and by the end is synthesizing information to predict recommended tactics. (And analyzing how she would approach the fights, not that she shares this information unprompted.)
And of course, she stays alert for any further intruders.
A stray demon pokes around every now and then, but Darth Occlus can slay them as easily as she slew the Babau earlier.
You must have really thrown off their plans from whatever they were when you chased off Deskari so fast. Since it seems we have time do you want a rundown on common demon cultists? You know, iconography, combat tactics, and so on?
Certainly. It seems likely I will need to kill a few at some point. And if you have any sociological information on the phenomenon, I would be interested in that as well.
Well if the demons aren't going to make a move on the Wardstone she might as well take the time to explain.
As to the sociology... A plurality of (maybe even most) cultists in Mendev are simply desperate, they think us mortals are on the losing side and they can be on the winning side. They are too desperate to account for how the demons don't exactly treat their human allies well or how they are risking an afterlife in the Abyss. Of other cultists, and cultists outside of Mendev or the previously desperate ones who get more committed... Sometimes someone does one major Evil thing, they figure their afterlife situation is screwed, and they might as well double down and do as much Evil as they can in hopes they can get an in with a Demon Lord or that they can transform into a full fledged demon faster once they are sent to the Abyss. Some people simply have something wrong in their head, they already enjoy torture or murder or similar sort of things and aligning with demons and demon lords lets them do more of that. Sometimes people really want cleric or inquisitor magic, and demon lords aren't too picky about who they empower, and although you need Wisdom to do that kind of magic well the minimum wisdom required isn't actually all that high and so some people think that is a good trade.
Following so far?
I believe I am familiar to the principal demographic to which you refer, yes. The fringe, the disregarded, desperate, and deluded.
Yeah, that description fits. A century of war and you get a lot of people like that...
As to more immediately useful details...
Anevia has another standard spiel! She focuses on the cultists of the demon lords Deskari and Baphomet, listing off holy symbols, favored weapons, favored strategies (Baphomet cultists really favor tricky plots, often even when a more straightforward plan would work better), common sayings, and ideological assumptions. She catches herself and breaks from her standard spiel as she gets to favored tactics.
So they usually have 1st through 3rd circle casters, but sometimes as high as 5th or 6th... you seem like a veteran adventurer, but I guess you weren't familiar with a telepathic bond before Terendelev explained it. Should I explain the fundamentals of using magic for adventuring? From 1st circle spells and up?
At the moment, my best guess is that this is not the universe in which I originated. Proceed under the assumption that I have never heard of magic until today.
That sounds fake, like a new variation of the amnesiac adventurer backstory excuse for not discussing her actual past, but Anevia can roll with it. She doesn't quite have a standard spiel for this, so she will need to be careful to cover the details well.
Uh, sure. So spellcasting... typically has a verbal and somatic component and takes 3-6 seconds to cast for each spell, with a few spells taking longer. Silence the spellcaster or interrupt their motions, you interrupt their spellcasting. Most Demons have spell-like abilities instead of spells like mortals so this doesn't apply to them, but it is good to know for the cultists. Arcane spellcasting motions are finicky enough they usually need loose robes, they can't even wear proper armor. Most offensive spells can either be dodged or resisted by willpower, or can simply be endured, some spells a combination of these things. Somewhat counterintuitively for new adventurers, the right supporting buff to allies is often better than an outright offensive spell. Like with a third circle spell, a fireball could kill a dozen enemies, but maybe they are skilled at dodging, or maybe their allied spellcaster used some 2nd circle resist fire and your fireball will barely do anything. And demons all resist fire anyway. So instead a third circle haste, to make 5 allies move with extreme speed for half a minute would be a better pick.
Uh, I think I'm actually still missing the basic basics, if you really never heard of any magic at all until today... trying to simplify even further... arcane magic tends to be better at transmutations and offensive effects, divine magic tends to be better at healing and buffs? Sorry I don't have a standard speech ready for this one, are you following me? Is there another angle I should take on this or should I keep explaining?
I expect that I will be able to access proper learning resources in due time. If you do not feel qualified for a full explanation, do not concern yourself. Tell me about these 'circles' you refer to. These are gradations of power?
Okay, simple summary is spellcasters can often shift the battle with the right spell, so break their teeth or jaws or arms to stop them. Or I guess if the stories already spreading about you are true just loop their arms off entirely if for some reason you can't cut their heads off.
Circles refer to a topology thing about the magic I think? Like the shape of the spells? A novice cleric or wizard with a few years training and practice will be able to prepare three 0th circle spells and maybe two or three 1st circle spells. 0th circle spells can be recast all day, higher circles are used up when cast. Spellcasters can't go up past 1st circle without proper adventuring experience, you know, using their magic under real high pressure situations. Well, if you organize your school with a high enough fatality rate you can get some 2nd and even some 3rd circle casters, but not higher, and it is normally more practical to send them out to get the experience. I think decent third circle wizard or cleric should be able to prepare two or three 3rd circle spells, three or four 2nd circle spells, four or five 1st circle spells and four 0th circle spells. I can list off a dozen or so most common and useful cleric and wizard spells of each circle up to... I guess 5th if you want that for reference? Or just to get an idea of how powerful each circle is? With the danger required to circle up, you get the numbers dropping off hard as you look at higher circles. Mendev only has a handful of 5th circle wizards, 5th circle is notable because that is when wizards become able to teleport long distances. For 9th circles... there are like two regularly active 9th circle wizards on this continent and their magic is strong enough to shape geopolitics. For reference, some people were already comparing your lightning to a 6th circle spell, except your lightning was apparently too powerful for the particular spell, so they were guessing metamagic or maybe a lightning oriented sorcerer bloodline or the right magic item boosting you.
I see. It is not obvious to her why mortal danger should improve one's practical topology skills, but neither was the existence of magic. So. I would like that list, just for comparison's sake.
Well the demons are certainly taking their time to get an assault together, so I might as well.
At 0th circle... Anevia explains the offensive cantrips (acid splash, jolt, ray of frost, all kind of worthless against demons and not actually better than a crossbow even against mortals), some useful divinations (detect fiendish presence, detect poison, detect magic, read magic), utility cantrips (message, light, dancing light, mage hand, mending, scrivener's chant, and of course prestidigitation), and of course stabilize (very handy for triaging healing since it can be used unlimited times). She mentions which ones are available to clerics and which to wizards (and sorcerers), as well as common uses for them and a few less conventional or cleverer uses.
At 1st circle... Anevia explains Endure Elements (very useful in the climate of Mendev and around the Worldwound), Mount (a horse may not sound like too much but it has good duration and it is completely disposable which opens up some options), bless (very minor but covers all people in a big radius), cure light wounds (basic healing), infernal healing (notable as wizard's only healing and slower but more consistent and usually more total healing than cure light wounds), remove fear, remove sickness, sleep (nonlethal option for disabling people, doesn't work on stronger people), color spray, minor image (very useful in the hands of a clever illusionist wizard who knows how to leverage it), keep watch (handy for sentries and extended battles), mage armor (good since wizards otherwise can't wear armor), unseen servant (handy at simple labor, for adventuring you can use it to set off traps), magic missile (force damage hurts demons, but they also have spell resistance), enlarge person (good to put on your best fighter). Her descriptions thorough and focused on practical angles, but she goes from spell to spell in a kind of meandering order, describing them as she remembers them or thinks of them.
She spends about a minute explaining each spell and take around a half an hour to get through 0th and 1st circle.
Are you following so far? Sorry again for not having a standard speech. But I guess we aren't pressed for time and holding the Wardstone is basically the highest priority we got.
While Anevia is speaking, a few more stray demons come within range of Darth Occlus and are again easily dragged out and dispatched.
Just to let you know, we are on the last ten minutes of this telepathic bond. The fighting is going well up here, demons are individually stronger than mortals but undisciplined and we have been able to rally an effective defense and counterattack what few areas the demons did manage to focus on. How are things down there? I assume not too exciting if Anevia is doing magic lectures? (Her tone on the last bit indicates a bit of humor.)
Several more scouts, but nothing coordinated. It has been relaxing and educational. Insofar as demons are capable of coordination, I do not believe they know where the Wardstone is, else we ought to have seen at least one stronger push.
I agree. If you particularly desire more combat, you could come to the surface and I could direct you at the most critical concentration of demons (they've taken the garrison). But I believe holding the Wardstone is the highest priority, and it isn't impossible that they will eventually manage to organize an assault on it.
I have long since outgrown my youthful bloodlust. If keeping the stone secure remains your priority, then I believe my senses here are your best advantage.
Back to listing spells? I thought of a few a missed at 1st circle... Charm Person (unfortunately it being first circle and hours duration makes it quite a favorite of unethical enchanters), Comprehend Languages (less useful than Share Language at 2nd circle but still good if you don't have anyone of 2nd circle to spare).
Occlus thinks she may be under a similar effect. This is not her native language. In which case, they may need to prepare some contingency if she abruptly loses the ability to communicate.
Huh, well Share Language lasts 24 hours, so if that's the spell you are under we will want to take care of that today before it expires. Terendelev, we may need a Share Language?
Comprehend Languages (or Tongues at 3rd circle) have a much shorter duration... I think they would normally have run out. Can you understand multiple languages? And speak multiple languages you couldn't before? Share Language usually just does one language of the caster I think, so we can check...
Anevia speaks outs loud.
"This is a sentence in Hallit"
"This is a sentence in Taldane"
"This is a sentence in Shadowtongue." (She has a noticeable accent with this sentence.)
"This a sentence a Kelish." (Her accent is horrible and her grammar broken.)
Tongues and Comprehend Languages can be made permanent, but it would take a nonstandard technique to make the permanent on someone other than the spellcaster themselves. I'll send someone your way with the spell slot to spare on a Share Language just in case.
I was able to understand all your test sentences. She will repeat this out loud and add, "Though the only distinction to me is accent." And in Huttese, "It is not obvious whether this effect will allow me to notice what language something is."
So if you can speak and understand all of them, you've got Tongues cast on you. If you can just understand them, that would be Comprehend Languages. You should check if you can read all languages too... I don't have a slate or chalk with me. Tongues doesn't do reading. If you can also write a bunch of new languages, neither Tongues nor Comprehend Languages do that, and Share Language just does one language at a time, so I'm out of ideas then.
Just a moment, I will ask Hulrun what magics he detected on you...
Hulrun didn't detect any magics on you, which means if you do have Tongues or Comprehend Languages active someone must have concealed them, perhaps with a Greater Magic Aura spell or a witch variant of that spell that works slightly different. Speaking of which... what do you recall just prior to being brought in on the stretcher? Anyone casting spells on you that you cannot account for?
(The problem with working with allies one does not unequivocally dominate is that occasionally one must admit to a weakness.)
I do not recall such an event, she sends after a brief pause. The gap between my daily activities and the stretcher is unexplained.
And she wasn't even checking in any interesting artifact that she can recall.
Worrying. With the timing you were brought in... you might be some piece in a demonic plot, although if so it seems to have backfired quite thoroughly on the demons. I am having trouble thinking of anything short of complete destruction of the entire Wardstone line that would justify to Deskari getting himself cut up like he did, even if he did have some implanted suggestion to make you pull your attacks at the last moment, which it didn't seem like he did. When we've settled the events of today, there are a number of divinatory spells we might consider to try to resolve this. I would be willing to contribute the scrolls and spell slots to whatever extent you are willing to allow me to gain the information, I can tell you what each divination does in advance.
I will... consider that. A final decision can be made after the current attack is fully resolved.
Is there anything else pressing or urgent that we missed? Or quick questions you had for me that Anevia can't answer? We only have a few minutes left on this telepathic bond and I have a lull in the fighting at the moment.
The majority of the fighting, yes. But there will be stragglers, such as demons that exhausted their ability to teleport and are stuck here. Or that are hiding away in buildings we need to clear. And the cultists have no easy way to retreat, so we will need to hunt them down even after they can no longer win.
Anevia will get back to summarizing spells then! She gets less certain as she gets to higher circle spells (that spell is 3rd circle for clerics, but I think it is 4th for wizards?) and has to double back as one spell will remind her of others. She has to switch to whispered conversation once the telepathic bond ends, which hopefully won't raise too many more questions about why the powerful lightning monk needs basic magic usage explained than her use of lightning on demons already did.
Around the time Anevia has gotten up to 4th circle spells, Darth Occlus can faintly notice something invisibly moving around not too far from them. It has gotten closer than any demons before have managed, it really is quite hard to detect. Darth Occlus's senses want to slide off of it (but this effect isn't quite strong enough or maybe isn't quite configure right for interacting with Force-based extrasensory perception or some combination of the two factors), and also something is quite firmly insisting to Darth Occlus's senses that it is a rock right there moving invisibly (again, not quite working right against the Force, but not failing as badly as the other effect). (If Darth Occlus can recall Anevia's early spell summary, she might remember a second circle spell, Misdirection, that can do this, and doesn't allow willpower to resist it like most illusions do... Anevia kind of got distracted and went on a rant about it, it is apparently a favorite of Baphomet cultists pulling various plots.)
Hm. This may be interesting. She tilts her head slightly at Anevia and flicks her eyes in the direction of the anomaly. She seems a smart girl, surely she can pick up the cue.
And then she will narrow her attention from a broad net to a piercing drill, focused on the thing that does not wish to be perceived. You bear the full weight of Darth Occlus's regard, intruder. Surrender unto her your secrets and die quickly, or resist and suffer.
Then Darth Occlus can perfectly perceive a rock, sitting on a chair some distance away in a fortress on the surface. It is basically just a random rock, picked up from the rubble of the damaged fortress. The rock doesn't really have any secret or notable features. It was quarried some distance away, brought to the location of the fortress, mortared in place (some rocks near it were stoneshaped, but it was merely mortared in place without magic), and then eventually blasted loose as demons fought over the fortress.
Oh, and the rock was recently magically linked with an illusion to a powerful demon! The demon herself didn't cast the illusion, it was an illusionist wizard cultist!
She can't see anything there (not that she looks right away, she incorporates a glance into her natural periodic sweeps of the area). She keeps whispering discussion of spells but picks the next spell she discusses carefully.
"Glimpse of truth is kind of limited, a round of true seeing (that is a higher circle spell), but if you really need to check for illusions and don't have anyone higher circle sometimes it is what you have to use. You know, see invisibility can't beat illusions in general, just invisibility, and Baphomet cultists make a point of religious devotion out of convoluted layering of illusions and effects so we often do need it although it also has an expensive material component, so we can't afford a lot of it."
So no other resources on hand to contest this thing. Alas.
Well. One makes do with what one has, and what Occlus has is incredibly mastery of the Force and quite a lot of experience at killing people. "On alert," she says aloud, as the moving rock and its surroundings in about a three meter radius will be subjected to a crushing force slamming them into the ground, then her lightsaber will fly out of her hand and spear into the center of the rock and then cross the area with sweeping slashes before returning.
Fuck. She can't do much about the slam, but the manage to twist with it to dodge the spear. But the sweeping slashes are a problem. The protection from fire was the right choice it means an arm thrown in the way slows the saber just enough that it can't decapitate her. She still lose a hand and the lower part of her arm though. But you know what doesn't require hand motions or even thinking too hard? Greater teleport.
Anevia puts 4 arrows in the general area, but none of them connect. Was that a teleport out?
"Do you still sense it, is it gone? Anyone got a Magic Circle Against Evil? The off chance it got a dominate on someone is worth the spell I think. The hand looks humanoid, so I'm guessing succubus, maybe Lilitu if today is really not our lucky day."
"Did anyone see anyone freeze up strangely? Anyone feeling off?" She whispers to Darth Occlus: "Does your perception or magic senses or however it works for you indicate anyone is acting off? Or better yet if you can just read minds."
Actually they aren't entirely devoid of arcane casting. She addresses everyone. "Anyone have a detect thoughts to spare?"
"Give me 15... uh no 30 minutes and I can have one ready!" says the same person that had the Communal Protection from Evil.
"I think a second Communal Protection from Evil might be a better pick?"
She stretches her feelings out. Any changes from the background hum of thought she has been vaguely aware of?
Everyone is a bit more worried about the prospect of dealing with a succubus, but there aren't any big shifts you would expect if someone was being mind controlled.
"I sense nothing out of the ordinary here," she informs Anevia, then retakes her seat.
Teleportation. How vexing. And the loss of a single arm is evidently not quite sufficient to restrict casting. She will arm herself better, if she stays. In the meantime, she has one guess for where the sneak may have run. Occlus casts her mind back to the room with the chair. What does she sense?
Demons and cultist are hurrying to organize an attack! They are uneasy, their leader was maimed and is on edge. She is likely to kill or at least brand them at the slightest provocation. Not all of them can teleport, so they are apparently figuring out the best route to launch an attack. They aren't disciplined, but personal threats by their leader seem to be pulling them together for the moment.
"Hold off on the protection from evil then... what else can you do with that open slot?" Anevia gets engaged in a conversation with the wizard about whether to start preparing something else now or to keep it open. It looks to Anevia like Darth Occlus is concentrating on something, she'll leave her to it.
An eyeless demon rock missing a hand is strutting around alternating between relatively coherent orders and unhinged rants.
"Fucking kill the bitch with the glowing sword, get in close, attack her from afar, throw everything at her! Without her lightning her best attack is her glowing sword, which can only get one target at a time, and it isn't impossible to dodge. Her only other attack that can get multiple target is just tossing you around a bit with raw force, it can't be that hard just to swarm her."
Apparently someone is doubting her because she lashes out with her tail, branding them with some profane marking.
"Anyone with any doubts about who is scarier, I will settle that right fucking now!"
That apparently merits two more cultists and a demon getting branded!
She calms herself.
"They haven't left many defenders on the Wardstone, they are probably overconfident about their lightning monk. So we are going through a secret passage out of here, going through the Shield Maze (thank you for that suggestion, darling), sneaking along a few routes in the caves to take them from multiple directions, then we swarm the lightning bitch and the rest of them should be fodder. I will have a telepathic bond on each groups leader, do not go before I give the signal or so help me you will be wishing you had died to the Wardstone defenders when I got a hold of you!"
Something catches her attention and she snaps her head around as if trying to look back at Darth Occlus, but can't find the right direction to look.
"Get some detect magics up, look for a scrying sensor or maybe someone invisible! We are not fucking messing up this plan because someone can't fucking keep alert for spying!"
She brands a cultist that is fumbling with casting a detect magic.
She follows that up with some telepathic orders that Darth Occlus can't quite perceive.
She lacks control. Pathetic. Occlus will enjoy killing her.
Those in the crevasse by the Wardstone will see a glowing violet ghost stand up out of Occlus, look into the distance, and fade away. (Her chest flares with pain. She will deal with it later. For now, it is fuel.)
In the fortress room, an ethereal apparition appears behind the armless rock demon, eyes flaring purple. It closes a fist, and the tailed demon's head twists violently to the left as her body twists right. A crushing band digs in around the center of her throat and pushes up. A wave of the other hand and terrorpainfear sweeps the other occupants.
She struggles. Her body is far tougher than that of a mundane human of her size, but enough squeezing and pulling and eventually her head tears clean off.
She tries to teleport out, but the pain is actually too much, even for her, and it fails.
The human cultists are screaming and running away. Most of the demons instead teleport out. (If Minagho is dead she can't coerce them to stay here and risk their lives, and Deskari or Areelu don't personally know them to track them down to punish them later.)
That is a neat looking trick. She'll wait until she is sure Darth Occlus has finished what she is doing before asking about what it was.
Two of the spellcasters with them in the crevasse cast detect magic to see if they can figure out whatever spell (or Ki power?) it was Darth Occlus cast. ...it apparently doesn't show up to detect magic? So it is probably a Ki technique? That's too bad. Or maybe she's a psion, that would be neat!
The ghost floats upwards through the fortress until it reaches the open sky. Where is that dragon?
She's outside the fortress, gathering up crusaders and preparing to storm it. At the moment she is eliminating a smaller group of demons so the crusaders don't get attacked in the flank when they attack the garrison.
Over the ghost goes. Once the dragon is done, the ghost speaks in a voice that echoes more in the mind than the air. "The leader is slain. Press your attack."
"Identify yourself!" It looks kind of like Darth Occlus, but she isn't sure. She casts a detect magic to try to make sense of the spell... it seems it isn't actually a spell? Or maybe it is masked cleverly with illusion?
"It is Occlus. Your Wardstone remains secure. This is merely a projection."
“Ah, that makes sense.”
She can see cultists start to exit the garrison as they flee in disarray.
“Impressive multitasking. And they still haven’t organized an assault on the Wardstone? It seems a bit sloppy, even by the standards of demons.”
"They attempted to do so. Their efforts were disrupted. As I said, their leader is now slain."
“I had gotten reports it was Minagho leading them. She is a Lilitu, I don’t think Anevia mentioned them because they are so rare. Lilitu are kind of like extra powerful succubi. Can you see through your projection? If it looked like an eyeless succubi that would be a Lilitu. And Minagho was also a witch on top of that. Witches are usually mortal spellcasters not demons. And they have a spell list about halfway between clerics and wizards.”
"I'll look for the head... Minagho is, or perhaps was, a tricky foe, so we need to rule out illusions or a body double or any other deceptions that mean she might still be alive."
"Good fortune in your endeavors. I shall be at the Wardstone."
And the ghost disappears.
Now, she's been keeping half an ear out so she knows there was nothing urgent at the location of her body. But presumably someone may have questions?
"Do you want to explain what that was? Or at least what you did? We got as far as figuring out it doesn't show up to detect magic, and certainly isn't a standard spell, although maybe a variant of Astral Projection might look like that? But no pressure if your techniques are secret to your monk order or something like that."
Anevia is trying to avoid being pushy, an adventurer going with 'I'm from another planet' to avoid backstory questions might also want to keep their spells (or ki techniques, or psion powers... there was a lot of speculation in a very short time) secret.
"This flesh is not all that I am. I simply stepped beyond its limits for a time. Our latest intruder was a lilitu. She is dead now, or thoroughly fled. Terendelev identified her as one Minagho; they are preparing to retake the fortress on the surface."
The spellcaster with the sword that jumped down early exclaims triumphantly. "Told you it was an astral projection!"
The abjurer wizard who offered a communal protection from evil responds. "She didn't actually say that, her description was kind of metaphorical anyway."
Onto more important subjects...
"Can you keep picking off stronger demons at range like that, or is that more of a limited times per day kind of deal?"
"I must know my target. And the chief advantage is in surprise, which is lost when overused."
"Fair enough. Back to me trying to summarize all the spells? Or did you sense anything else we should act on?"
The abjurer wizard addresses Darth Occlus. "I can give a more theoretical overview if you want once you finish Anevia's basic summary. Like she isn't even mentioning the schools of magic, which even a basic knowledge of can help you guess which spells will counteract which or how certain spells may interact. And it would help you to guess what other spells or tricks a given specialist might have."
"I do not believe anything else demands our immediate attention."
Then Anevia will finish off describing the relevant 4th circle spells. She knows even fewer 5th circle spells from memory, but she does know the fundamentals. Notable spells to Darth Occlus might include Raise Dead (although Anevia doesn't know to emphasize it as notable, if anything her summary is kind of dismissive "it would be pretty handy, but the diamond cost puts it out of range of what most people below third circle can afford, even with insurance schemes or such").
Hm. Does it work on demons? And what makes a diamond suitable for the spell?
"Demons are, like, physically made of soul-stuff or something like, so destroying their body means there is no soul for the spell to grab, so lucky for us it doesn't work on demons. The diamond just needs to be a certain clarity and weight."
Anevia gestures to indicate the size, it is actually pretty small.
"There isn't a spell for decisively telling in advance, but the Abadarans are consistent enough at appraising diamonds they will give a money back guarantee."
The wizard is listening now and can clarify. "There actually is a 1st circle spell for aiding in appraisal, but it just moderately boosts mundane ability and skill, and the Abadarans have the tools and training to appraise diamonds accurately and consistently even without the spell. I've vaguely heard of higher circle spells and rituals to help assess diamonds for use in magic, but appraisal services are reliable enough and the Abadarans usually include confidentiality so I don't think people bother with those approaches much, at least for the standard usages of diamonds."
"Is it required to be cut and polished? Do you know of a reason why a synthetic diamond should not work as well as one naturally created?"
"I don't why that wouldn't work. If whatever you are thinking of actually works you will probably be the richest person on the continent depending on exactly how you use the knowledge."
"Conjuration doesn't work for making a magically usable diamond, conjurations are usually temporary and have properties that would interfere with using a conjured diamond as a material component. Most of the workarounds for making a conjuration not temporary don't work for diamonds for a variety of reasons. I have heard of items that can conjure very small amounts of material components for spells in a usable way, but I think it scales in a way that makes that unworkable for diamonds. Transmutations, same overall problem. If you know a minimally magical (such that it doesn't run into the problems with using conjured or transmuted materials) alchemical process, what Anevia said, you are basically set to become the richest person ever."
This person is probably confused or something... but if she is somehow right this is possibly the most important conversation he will ever have in his life.
"I have a spell to let us whisper to each other more easily, maybe I should have offered it sooner, but it won't let you and Anevia whisper to each other, just to and from me. May I cast it on you?"
"Aquilia here is a member of the flaming lance. I trust him reasonably well... I'm maybe not as sure as I should be for a conversation that is apparently this valuable." A bit of skepticism leaks into her voice.
It probably won't work, from what Anevia knows, wizards have tried all sorts of nonsense to get more diamonds over the millennia. Even if Darth Occlus's created diamonds work they are probably super expensive to create or something.
She waves a dismissive hand. "Diamond is merely a crystalline arrangement of carbon. As far as I can tell, you lack the technological base to perform the process of creating synthetics on an industrial scale, and seeing to it personally would be tedious and boring. I've no intent to disrupt your diamond market, beyond perhaps a few created for my own purposes should I come across an amenable fifth-circle caster."
He takes a moment to process this ('carbon' translates as an alchemical term which luckily he recognizes) and then responds excitedly.
"Carbon... as in the base essence of charcoal and ash? The crystallization... is there a particular solution you can get diamond to precipitate out of? Does it need pressure like in the depths of the earth? Does the crystallization need adjacent elemental energies?"
The wizard is probably bothering Darth Occlus about whatever magical technique it was she used a moment ago, which means boring wizard talk. On the other hand, he is bored enough boring wizard talk might actually be a relief, and maybe watching Darth Occlus get annoyed will be fun.
So he stands up from the rock he was sitting on and walks over to join the whispered conversation.
"Immense heat and pressure is the simplest method, though there are others. And of course, the closer to pure, the better quality the resulting stone will be. Simple charcoal is unlikely to be particularly useful without further refinement. I would be looking for something like processed coke, depending on the state of your steel manufacturing, or high-grade mineral coal."
"Yes, yes, very fascinating. Just what I always wanted to learn, an alchemical process for turning coal into stone. Truly the lore of distant planets is deeply fascinating!"
He resolves to just ignore the Count.
"Do you know of any techniques for quantifying the heat and pressure required? Or maybe... would overshooting the pressure and heat needed still work?"
His mind is racing through all the spells that could apply very focused heat and pressure. Maybe a modification to forcecage for pressure?
"Yes, though I am not terribly interested in attempting to translate those for you in the absence of a more solid grounding in the state of scientific understanding here. As a point of comparison, most natural diamonds are formed during the collation of a planetary system, or in the hearts of stars."
Wait, making diamonds is what they are taking about?
"You may not have anyone dead you would want back, but are there really no Wishes your heart desires? For myself, I would like to become even more splendid and dazzling, although that might not be a safe Wish seeing as how it borders on the impossible."
That joke wasn't to his usual quality, he's concealing a hint of real anger about Darth Occlus being so careless about the knowledge of unlimited diamonds.
He's going to keep ignoring the Count, how about that.
"The Order of the Flaming Lance is quite interested in magic and alchemy and could put you into contact with all sorts of alchemists if you have any interest in the state of alchemical knowledge on this, uh, planet?"
Right, the Count had been talking to her before the rest of them were brought down by Terendelev and he mentioned she was from another planet just now.
"Certainly, I expect it would be an amusing diversion if nothing else."
To Daeran, "Unless you are at present in contact with a high-circle spellcaster, the question is academic, no?
"Such a boring and academic topic, I am sure you have more interesting and exciting things to talk about while we sit here waiting for the demons to dare attack us again? Or maybe you'd like to meditate, I here that is an exciting and popular diversion of monks?"
"We'll be in contact in the future yes."
He is about to bow out of the conversation, but maybe she isn't enjoying the Count's wit.
"Would you like me to continue from Anevia with a general summary about magic?"
"Ughhh..." The count dramatically sighs and goes back to sitting on the rock he had earlier.
If he's going to recuse himself on his own recognizance, then they may as well continue with the magic. They had gotten up to fifth-circle, yes?
Anevia's knowledge of higher circle spells is kinda lacking (they can only rarely afford to use a scroll of it and don't have anyone in Kenabres that high circle besides Terendelev, and Terendelev has spontaneous casting where she can't swap out spells and is stuck with just a few she knows innately). So she'll let Aquilia take over.
"Would you prefer a loose overview of some of the more important higher circle spells or a more general summary of categorizations of spells first?"
Anevia skipped over a few 5th circle spells he thinks are notable. He tries to keep it tactically focused but can't resist mentioning a point or two or theory or concept here and there. Among the spells for 5th circle he discusses, True seeing, 5th for clerics, 6th for wizards, great for illusions but requires an expensive component. Polymorph, very flexible open-ended shapeshifting! Mage's Private Sanctum, blocks out all divination (an important distinction, as some information gathering magics aren't actually divination, for example, message is actually transmutation), good for privacy. Stoneskin, nice powerful durability against physical attacks, but uses a moderate amount of diamond dust. Permanency, uses lots of diamond dust, can make several other key spells permanent! Commune, yes-or-no questions from a God! Somewhat less impressive than it sounds, even if you get clever with trees of questions, even Gods have limits on their awareness, but still pretty useful.
Does she have any questions about any of these?
Several that are theory-focused, but none that need disrupt the flow at this point.
He is really easy to derail into more theoretical topics, but he catches himself before he goes on for too long or gets into explanations beyond the basics. 6th circle has Greater Dispel Magic (like Dispel Magic but better in a few key ways), Antimagic field (a great option for killing wizards, but it is bound to the same area as the caster which means you need a team working together to leverage it like that, or at least so he's heard), Cold Ice Strike (notable over other offensive evocations because it can be cast by both wizards and clerics, and it can be cast very quickly compared to most spells), Flesh to Stone (good for trapping someone in a not technically dead state) and Stone to Flesh (reverse the previously mentioned spell, can be used on just plain stone, but takes lots of tricks and technique to get something even vaguely edible but is noteworthy for the sheer bulk of 'food' it can generate, or at least that's what he's heard), Telepathy (kind of costly at 6th circle considering message is a cantrip and translation magic is 2nd or 3rd).
Oh that remind him, is she okay with him casting a message on her so they can have this conversation more quietly?
He would kind of like to yes, in case she has anything else on the level of making diamonds.
He continues... Create Undead... did Anevia mention Animate Undead (he has her on the message also, even though she can't talk directly to Darth Occlus)? Okay she didn't. She probably skipped the 3rd/4th circle Animate Dead because Demons are bad enough at logistics they can't source the material for using undead too often, and Mendev bans the use of them, even to the point of owning the material for the spells. Anyway, Animate Dead creates simple skeletons and zombies, maybe slightly more advanced skeletons and zombies for a skilled enough necromancer. Skeletons and zombies are mindless but still cause some torment for souls in their afterlife, at least according to his understanding of the theory. Undead created by Animate Undead are nastier and more powerful and retain some intelligence, in some cases dragging souls from their afterlife to suffer and cause suffering as twisted monsters. He doesn't know what her thing is but if it includes the power to create undead she should know that is very illegal in Mendev.
Noted. So the difference between Create Undead and Raise Dead is whether the soul... suffers?
He hadn't even thought of them as in the same category... Raise Dead fully restores the mind and all but fully restores the body (give or take a Restoration or two). Create Undead creates horrifically warped monsters with unrecognizable personalities and only tenuous connections to their former life. There are often mad necromancers convinced they can do better... well compared to the Evil afterlives he supposes it is possible the necromancers occasionally do somewhat better, but that is a low, low, bar. Even undead that come out with more continuity of personality and memories of their former life and are one of the types that aren't constantly suffering generally have a complete loss of empathy and Goodness and an inability to enjoy many of the innocent Good things of their former life. Like a Lich (not that Create Undead can make a Lich, it takes a specialized ritual unique to the caster, but as an example of an undead) might retain their love of magic and scientific experiments, but lose their ability to enjoy playing with pets or seeing beautiful natural scenery.
(He tries not to show it, but he is kind of worried about getting the extraplanetary monk interested in Evil magic.)
(Oh, it is far too late for that, dear child.)
One sees why it was made illegal, in that case.
Right... moving on. There is Planar Binding (for wizards) and Planar Ally (for clerics). They can call outsiders, you know, beings from the afterlives, to aid the caster. He starts to find his stride listing off spells again... Chain Lightning (worse than her lightning effect looked like, direct offensive magic isn't really the optimal use of wizardry). Heal, for clerics, cures basically everything (blindness, deafness, poison, disease), except for the deeper sort of damage a restoration gets at. Word of Recall, like teleport for clerics but more limited in most ways. Moving on to 7th circle... Banishment sends outsider (like demons) back to their home plane (the Abyss in the case of demons). Mage's Magnificent Mansion, shelter and one of the few ways wizardry has of properly and directly producing food. Plane shift, 7th for wizard, 5th for clerics, you can directly visit the afterlives. Greater Teleport, none of the risk of going off target even the most carefully cast 5th circle teleport has. Greater Scrying, like Scrying but with a more convenient casting time. Limited Wish, a tricky spell that requires a diamond. It is capable of taking spoken input to accomplish nearly anything, but often goes disastrously wrong if you don't stick to one of the known safe wordings and/or emulating existing 6th circle and lower spells. Mass Greater Magic Weapon, handy for empowering a group's weapons, he's heard legends of a version with no limit on people and immense range, and it should be theoretically doable as a spell because... sorry getting off topic into theory. Greater Polymorph, like Polymorph but even more flexible and more powerful forms. Resurrection, like raise dead, and requires a bigger diamond, but it only needs a small piece of the body and can reach back over a century to restore someone to life.
Any questions?
Are the afterlives the only places Plane Shift takes one? What is the technical definition of an outsider? What are the conditions of a Planar Binding for the target?
There are also the Elemental Planes. Fire, Earth, Air, Water. And powerful clerics and wizard can create demiplanes that count as other planes (it has a multiple hour casting time and takes diamond dust to make permanent and the very minimum spell circle to make a demiplane he's heard of is 7th). And plane associated with other magical phenomena, like the Astral, Ethereal, or Shadow. And all sorts of weird one-off planes, the results of demigods or ancient archmages creating demiplanes on a scale beyond ordinary wizards and clerics.
Outsiders are beings made up of planar quintessence. There is some ambiguity and argument about the exact amount or form of quintessence required to count. Like, for example, the Abyssal energies mutate some people into Tieflings, who are mostly mortal but have some Outsider like properties, and only count as Outsiders for the purposes of a limited subset of spells that interact differently with Outsiders.
Planar Ally (and its variants at higher and lower circle), as cleric spells, mostly rely on the God to pick the Outsider for the cleric, with the spell acting as a cap on the maximum power of the outsider called. It is expected to pay the outsider, although many of the Good God's outsiders want their payment donated to worthy causes among mortals so in the case of a church calling the outsider this can result in nearly circular payments (although there are some technical limits to this he admits he hasn't learned). Planar Bindings are much more finicky as a wizard spell. If you just want to target one of the common sorts of outsider without caring exactly who you call and risking calling the wrong outsider you don't need anything, but for good reliability or for less common types of outsider you may need things like secret truenames, material bits of flesh of the right type of outsider, secret sigils to put in your summoning diagram, exotic/expensive material components, pacts made in advance, and/or subtle variations on the standard Planar Binding Spell.
(Unlikely to be the method of her transportation, as she does not fit the stated criteria of an Outsider. Still, the best lead she's found so far.)
She will add further questions about various planes to her list of tangents not relevant to the current topic.
He finishes up his list of 7th circle spells (Control Weather, a few others).
"So, for the 8th and 9th circle spells, cleric magic is well known, the Gods basically share a standardized list of spells, with some variance in sub-lists called domains clerics get a spell of each level they can cast from, and a few unique spells per God. But for wizard magic, we need to copy existing spells or reverse engineer spell or invent entirely new spells to scribe into our spellbooks, so the higher level magic gets kind of irregular..."
There are a lot of higher circle Wizard spells with multiple variants! At 8th circle Grand Polymorph/Supreme Polymorph/Polymorph for polymorphing with long or even indefinite duration if certain conditions can be met! Creating demiplanes with various add-ons at 8th and 9th circle!
Also at 8th, discerning the location of anyone you have sufficient knowledge of if they are anywhere in existence! Stormbolts, maybe a match for her lightning, he's not sure of either end of that comparison? At 9th, Mage's Disjunction, dispels all spells in an area with absolutely no chance of failure like with the lower circle dispels. Meteor Swarm, 9th circle, he heard it isn't actually that much better than a well meta-magicked (he still needs to explain metamagic, doesn't he) fireball or multiple casters using fireballs at the same time. Soul binding for trapping souls!
Wish, as with limited wish, can achieve almost anything, but is only really safe for a limited set of wordings and/or mimicking 8th circle and below spells. But there are a few particular Wordings that surpass conventional spells and are reliable: instantaneous (he resists going on a tangent about instantaneous versus permanent effects, and instead summarizes as instantaneous lasts forever because it doesn't need magic to sustain the effect, importantly meaning it can't be dispelled) boosts to strength, stamina, agility, intelligence, wisdom, or charisma. Each wish does only a small boost to one trait, but you can use five in a row on a single trait to get a better effect. Also a Wish can transport up to 18 people anywhere in existence.
The higher circle spells do seem worthwhile, on the whole. Pity they are so rare. Or perhaps the world is fortunate, depending on one's point of view.
There are more people creeping around in the darkness through the caves, trying to move quietly. Mostly humans, not demons, if Darth Occlus can tell the difference.
There is a certain flavor of mindset, she's noticed. Do these skulkers seem to have hostile intent?
Their leader is hostile, but ultimately human. They are determined to reclaim the Wardstone in Baphomet's name and be rightly rewarded. The leader's followers are less determined in their hostility, many of them are afraid or confused, but ultimately the intend to kill the Wardstone's defenders. A few among their number are demons, with an underlying malice beyond mortals, but these demons are actually relatively less hostile than most of the demons she's encountered so far, they would rather be napping (or slaughtering easier targets).
"One moment," she says to the wizard, standing. "We seem to have guests again."
Are they clumped up or spread out?
They are looking to find a few separate angles of approach as they creep closer, but the cavernous terrain isn't very helpful with that, so for the moment they are all grouped up.
Ah, nice and easy. She ought to have a few moments more to consider her approach, then.
"Is there anything of interest to be gained from interrogating a cultist?" she inquires of Anevia. The woman reminds her of some of the Intelligence officers she's known.
"Short answer, yes. A leader and a minion or two as spare would be best if it isn't substantial exertion on your part. If you're conserving Ki* or whatever, a minion is almost as good as a leader, maybe better since they'll crack easier and most of my questions are pretty general."
*this word seems to almost just mean 'breath' except also with the connotation of being magical.
"I shall see what can be done." And with that, she sets off down the chasm. A twist of the Force sees her seem to fade into the blackness, practically invisible in her dark robes.
When she gets near the group, she reaches out with her will and presses. Sleep, she commands. You cannot resist. This is simply the way of the world Submit, surrender, fall unconscious.
Then if any remain awake, they will see a crimson blur scything out of the darkness, swiftly removing their heads. Next, she targets any demons that remain, then all but two of the humans, hopefully to include the leader among that number.
Their leader, a wizard, and two demons manage to resist the command. The leader shouts a command: "Glitterdust!". The wizard is trying to act on that command, but unfortunately spending 3 seconds casting a spell is too slow. One of the demons does react and a gut-wrenchingly stinking cloud appears in a 40 foot radius cylinder... at the location Darth Occlus was at a second and a half ago.
Goodbye demons, you will not be mourned. Farewell wizard, one wonders how your kind survives on a battlefield at all with such abysmally poor reaction times.
She flicks a hand full of lightning at the leader. Perhaps that will calm them down.
She has heard enough about what happened on the surface to have a resist energy active on herself and so a mere handful of lightning isn't enough to even tickle her. She charges at the source of the lightning, swinging her glaive at it. Her glaive glows with her Judgement. She's not going to let herself lose to some monk with a juiced up deep slumber and chain lightning. (...which apparently trades off on maximum power? A real chain lightning would at least jolt her a little bit through her resistance.)
Sigh. She will find a way to make that work again eventually. Doing things the hard way every time is such a pain. In the meantime-
Twist to the side to evade the charge. Saber flickers out to cut off the head of the glaive. Reach into the woman's head to overload her sense of balance. Observe if she crashes to the ground of her own accord, tripping over her own legs.
She resists whatever that was enough to avoid falling, but she is still momentarily disoriented. She swings futilely, even if she could land the hit, without the end of the glaive it is basically just a blunt staff. She can't fail here, she needs to prove her worth to Baphomet.
Occlus steps out of the darkness and seizes the remnant of the glaive, using the Force to wrench it from the woman's grasp. "You have already failed," she says. "Broken before you began, and cast aside as worthless, not even worth the effort of punishment." Her voice echoes in a chill whisper crawling up the cultist's spine like the touch of death. (Occlus did not enjoy fighting the Dread Masters, but she will acknowledge they had a remarkable grasp of technique.)
The Abyss doesn't require effort to punish someone, it's default state is punishing those too weak to master it towards their own ends and those that lack a patron to aid their ascension into a true demon. She doesn't have a weapon now, but there is one spell you can always fall back on, (although usually there is a better action to make).
"You sound like someone too wise to believe the crusader Gods' lies. Why don't you inflict moderate wounds?"
She works her somatic component into a gesture of supplication and her verbal component into her speech and attempts to touch Darth Occlus with her inflict. But even if the attempted masking of her casting works on Darth Occlus, there is still a solid half-second at the end where it is obvious she is spellcasting.
The cultist needs to be much better at disguising her hostility if she wants to get the drop on a Sith Lord. So she can have her hand privileges revoked. Occlus steps gracefully aside again as the offending appendages fall to the ground.
At that something finally breaks within Hosilla. She yells, but it turns to a scream, and then to sobbing in pain and fear.
A far more appropriate attitude. And the distress may make her more amenable to Occlus's influence. "Now then. I have questions, and I am sure my companions will have more. Will you be the one answering them or will I need to try my luck with another?" She stretches out to push on the cultist's mind again, encouraging compliance, submission.
Something within Hosilla's mind recognizes that push and responds to it.
"Yes my Lord Baphomet."
it doesn't really make sense that Baphomet is here, in person, as a woman working against her his cultists. But the terror and pain are drowning out Hosilla's ability to note and act on that obvious discrepancy.
It is nothing worth paying attention to. Let the doubt slip away.
"Are those here the sum of your forces, or do you have more in reserve?"
She interprets that to mean her forces in particular, and not the rest of the demons and cultists throughout the city.
"I had a few mongrels I haven't finished shaping up into proper servants of your cause. They are locked away securely in the maze for when we have time for their induction. We have some earth elementals we bound to expand the maze, but their bindings aren't suitable for direct combat. We have the material components to perform a few more rituals to call up some dretches."
She thinks a moment; it is hard, like her head is in a fog.
"There are more of my cultists in particular in the city above, but they are already committed to various missions, your servant Minagho should have command of them."
Anevia has just now caught up to Darth Occlus and is listening in. Darth Occlus certainly works fast! She'll let Darth Occlus continue to lead the questioning, Anevia isn't sure if the technique Darth Occlus is using needs concentration or for her to be the one asking the questions or has other finicky limits.
The confusion starts to come back (why does Baphomet need their own plans repeated back to him), but can't quite break through to the surface of her mind.
"The Wardstone corruption worked as we planned, and there was also a plan to accelerate it and propagate the damage through the whole Wardstone line. At least, that is what I think it was. I wasn't officially looped in, but as you teach, observe your environment. Minagho was supposed to be the one leading an assault to secure the Wardstone, but it ended up here instead of the Gray Garrison where Deskari was supposed to throw it towards. So I took some initiative!"
Some pride manages to show in her voice despite the urge to comply flooding her mind and the fog of pain and fear.
"Do you have any capability to enact the plan to accelerate the corruption?"
"Well there is the obvious, you know, desecrate and vandalize the Wardstone. I could mix in a few castings of Desecrate. I don't have an Unhallow, it would be the obvious thing to add to the mix. Maybe try a few sacrifices and profane rituals on it. I don't think any spell I have could properly get inside the Wardstone or even damage the exterior. Maybe the right ritual would do something?"
She's starting to wonder why Baphomet is testing her on this... maybe something has happened to Minagho and it will be up to her?
"If there is any strength as a caster that would enable me to carry out your will in this, I swear I will not let you down if you would so elevate me!"
Okay, but why is Baphomet a woman... who just attacked them? Observe her environment... think about the puzzle.
Occlus clamps down harder on the cultist's mind. There is no puzzle. There is no need to observe her environment. Only answering the questions matters.
"Give me the names of your cultists yet in the city."
Something in Hosilla's mind rebels deeply at this. It is a fundamental obedience to Baphomet to constantly observe her environment, to puzzle out the mazes around her. My Mind Is A Maze!
She comes to awareness and struggles not to show it. A plan rapidly occurs to her.
"As you well know my lord, your truly greatest servant is none other than Iomedae's must zealous warrior in this city, the Prelate himself, Hulrun Shappok. Among us lesser servants... Piotr Kowalski is faithful to your cause..."
She begin listing off names, mixing in real cultists with innocent people to make it maximally convincing while maximizing damage if they act on it. Maybe she shouldn't have started with Hulrun, it is too insane even as a plot of her (real) Lord's.
Anevia totally saw the flinch as cultist broke the suggestion or whatever it is Darth Occlus is using. She won't say anything, just whisper under her breath for Aquilia to relay to Darth Occlus that the cultist broke the effect, on the off chance Darth Occlus didn't notice herself.
Oh, she saw. Liars lose leg privileges next. Her saber slashes out, just above the knees. She takes hold of the cultist telekinetically, preventing her from falling.
"I do not appreciate being lied to, child."
She grimaces but holds back the scream. The pain actually lets her focus instead of driving her further into despair.
"Before today, Hulrun had executed more innocents in Kenabres than all of us us working together. But for all his bloodthirst, I don't think he will be willing to work with some like yourself? Baphomet would richly reward your service, or even just your alliance, if kneeling isn't your style."
Okay now, she kinda needs to step in.
"The Eagle Watch doesn't allow torture. …we do allow extreme procedures to restrain spellcasters, but usually like, breaking their hands."
Aneiva is following that up with urgent whispering under her breath to get relayed to Darth Occlus…
A whisper from Aquilia comes through the previously cast message "Anevia says she is fine bluffing the cultist about leaving her to you as long as you don't actually use that opportunity to further torture the cultist."
"Then we may as well skip to the end and kill her. I have no wish to babysit."
"I can cast detect thoughts if you give me about 25 minutes to prepare it." (His message carries this to both Anevia and Darth Occlus.)
Hosilla is unaware of their debates and in fact misinterprets the pause in the interrogation.
"You surely can't hope to be judged Good by Pharsma? You can make a place for yourself in the Abyss! You're strong enough to take down Anevia, she's only a moderately seasoned adventurer."
Anevia speaks out loud. It is not against the Eagle Watch's rules if she doesn't say it primarily for the purposes of intimidation. "A person powerful enough to resist your sleep effect might be able to resist mind reading. We can try our luck with one of the lower ranking minions."
Occlus snaps the cultist's neck and lets the body fall to the ground carelessly.
"Well enough, though surely they have less useful information. I believe you arrived in time to hear most of what that one had to say."
"Sure... let's try one of the minions? I should be clear before we go on... the Eagle Watch doesn't allow torture. You aren't a member of the Eagle Watch, and I am well aware I have no realistic prospect of stopping you, and as a matter of pragmatism we won't enforce any laws against torture on you interrogating demon cultists, but we won't be willing to work with you going forward if that is how you want to do this."
Anevia says this all calmly and matter-of-factly, with a hint of resignation.
"Should I clarify on how we draw the line on torture versus other interrogation methods?"
She tilts her head. "Best to avoid any... miscommunications, as you are attending. I would hate to sour our working relationship by accident."
Well, that is better than a lot of responses Darth Occlus might have had!
"So the general rule is phrased as 'deliberately causing pain and suffering for the primary purposes of extracting information or for its own sake'. Some things that don't count as that and are allowed... beating a subject of interrogation temporarily unconscious so that you can cast spells on them unimpeded is allowed. You should try to minimize the pain and suffering as you do so, but that of course depends on your resources. Directly causing pain so that they fail their saves against your spells isn't allowed. Accurately informing a subject of the likely consequences of being a demon cultist is allowed. Threatening them with death for the primary purposes of extracting information isn't allowed. Falsely claiming you are going to execute them isn't allowed. For restraining spellcasters from casting, you have broad discretion, but you shouldn't deliberately pick a method for maximizing pain or suffering. I can tie their arms up securely enough that we can be sure they can't spellcast."
Anevia maintains her calm tone.
"Should I come up with a few more examples?"
"No, I believe I understand the intent. A primarily psychological approach, or a magically-aided one, I presume. More reliable in the long term, but less convenient for field impromptus. Perhaps you would care to conduct the next interview?"
"Sure. How strong is your sleep effect, I think I'll go for this wizard and I would like to get his hands tied up in advance of waking him."
Anevia gestures at one of the cultist, who is notably different in that he is not wearing any armor.
"I will ensure he does not wake until you are ready." An unaware mind is an unresisting mind.
Anevia has rope on her, and gets her chosen cultist tied up in quite a fancy way. If he struggles too much, the rope will eventually tighten to the point of potentially cutting off circulation.
She sits him up at an angle where he can see his sleeping comrades and his dismembered leader.
"Ready whenever you are."
Anevia is going to wait for the man to speak first, just silently stare at him.
He is glancing back and forth between his sleeping allies and the dismembered corpse of Hosilla. He thought crusaders didn't usually go for that sort of thing! Even in his prime Hulrun favored burnings.
"I..."
He is at a loss for words.
"We can kill you now or I can make sure you have some time for a confessor to try to get yourself in order for the Judge."
"I..."
He wants to say something clever and rude about going to the Abyss and becoming a powerful demon and coming back to murder her, but he still can't think of anything.
"You're supposed to be a crusader! You're Anevia, you're with the Eagle Knights, you're not allowed to just dismember me!?"
The last part comes out more like a question than he meant it to.
"She is with the Eagle Knights. I," Occlus says, "am not. My understanding is that she would prefer I not dismember any more prisoners." Her tone is even and pleasant, perfectly matter-of-fact.
"I am not allowed to dismember prisoners. I am allowed to summarily execute cultists caught in the act, and in fact I am encouraged to do so under circumstances where keeping them prisoner would be impractical."
"So what, I beg for my life and you keep my around for another day or two for some fool to try to convince me to 'repent' before you all execute me anyway?"
"That's the offer. Well, more 'provide materially useful information' than 'beg for your life'. You can skip the begging entirely if you like, I think I would actually prefer it that way. Anyway, I figure at least one or two of you all will be eager to take my offer, I have a lot of you to try it out on."
Anevia's inclines her head to the unconscious cultists.
He glances nervously between his sleeping comrades, the pieces of Hosilla, Darth Occlus, and Anevia.
If he's looking for relief, he'll not find it in the Sith. He gets the sense that whatever passing amusement he might offer in his life or death is not something she will extend herself for.
"You're, you're not a Paladin yourself, right? How can I trust you'll keep your word about giving me a few more days to live?"
"First off, I'm not promising a few more days. I am promising long enough to talk to a confessor and a few hours to think over your life. Depending on circumstances that might be up to a few days, it might be by the end of the day. And that is of course conditional on you making absolutely no attempt to escape. Secondly... if you really want a Paladin."
She glances back over to the Wardstone and yells.
"Seelah, I need you for something."
Seelah comes over quickly.
"Yes-" She didn't actually get Anevia's title or rank or whatever, but she isn't sworn to Anevia or even in the same command structure yet and she did get introduced so they are kind of friends. "-Anevia."
"This cultist wants a Paladin guaranteeing the deal I'm offering."
"He provides useful information. We delay his execution until, at minimum, a confessor has provided spiritual counseling and he has had a few hours to contemplate and reflect on his life. He tries in anyway whatsoever to escape, and our end of it is off. So you would be agreeing help hold him prisoner according to those terms. Are you competent to act as an arbiter as to if the information is useful?"
"I... I'm sorry. I can help keep him prisoner, but I am new to Kenabres and the Worldwound and wouldn't be a good judge of the information."
Anevia looks back to the cultist
"Okay, for me to confirm this deal, I want to know the general categories of information you have. You don't have to tell me the information itself."
This deal keeps getting worse and worse, but he really doesn't want to die, and even a few hours might buy time for other groups of cultists and demons to counterattack and free him.
"I know what the plans for the Wardstone are and their overall effect. Big picture stuff, but really important! I... I mostly know cultists from this cell, but I can match a few faces and a name or two from outside of it. And I don't think everyone was with us, so that is a few more names. I've heard lots of rumors and hearsay, and I know that isn't the most valuable but you're an intelligence expert, right?"
He wracks his brain for more...
"I know about some ongoing plots tied to these caverns. And a few people you could rescue right now! Not exactly innocent, maybe as innocent as your average tiefling, but you know? Uh..."
That is actually a lot of information, he should demand more in return.
"And about your deal, just because the Paladin says so, how do I know she-" head nod at Darth Occlus "-won't get impatient with you all dragging me around and decide to speed things along?"
His voice has gotten more confident as he has decided that actually he has quite a bit of useful information.
"At the moment, your fate is in the crusaders' hands. I suggest you make of yourself a cooperative prisoner. Should your behavior become an annoyance to me personally... Well. I think we would all prefer to avoid that." Invoking her was not a correct choice, he feels. She is the sort of terror in the night it is best to let silently creep by.
Okay that was probably a mistake, but he wants to be sure. Or maybe he should just try to ignore her and not bother her.
"Acting annoying in a way that potentially sets up a slip in guarding you in fact counts as trying to escape. I'm happy with the type of information you describe. Ser Seelah, are you confident you understand them?"
She thinks carefully. "I think I understand, but are you obligating me to execute him as soon as he tries to escape, or... ?"
"You can use your judgement on how credible the escape attempt is, and you aren't obligated to execute him, no, just to keep him alive until he has seen a confessor and had a few hours, as long as he makes absolutely no escape attempts. To be clear, someone else executing him because of an escape attempt, even a minor ineffectual one, would not be breaking your word either."
"Okay, then in exchange for that information provided to you, I will do that to the fullest and best of my ability, you have my word."
"The Wardstone is unstable, give it enough time as it already is and it will explode, maybe blowing up a few adjacent Wardstones in the line. And we all know the line is overstretched even as it is. Minagho was supposed to get to it and make sure it blows faster and maybe takes down the entire line with it. Something was holding her up, I think the original plan was supposed to have the Wardstone in some other location? So anyway, we were close with our underground base, so we were going to secure it and maybe help with the desecration the slow manual way."
He suppresses the urge to glance at the scary person, he isn't getting anything useful from her.
"Do they have any other follow-up plans? I'll take rumor and hearsay if you have any."
Occlus will let Anevia run the questions, only keeping a light touch on the prisoner's mind to ensure no lies slip in to his testimony.
There are all sorts of wild rumors! Various rumors of notable demons that might aid the attack on Kenabres, of plans for once the Wardstones fall, and even of the grander plans of Areelu Vorlesh herself! (She has been spotted in person, various rumors claim she is plotting an ascension as a new Demon Lord).
There are plenty of names and identities of other cultists. (He barely seems to mind selling them out, and what little he does mind is the pragmatic concern they might try for vengeance if he escapes.)
There is an ongoing plot with kidnapping mongrelmen from the caverns and ritually feeding them Aasimar flesh under the guidance of a greater demon, a Vrolikai! They have a few mongrels held prisoner, there was supposed to be a ritual soon, but the Vrolikai fucked off to who knows where for who knows what reason.
"Alright, I've heard enough."
She loosens his bindings (she has some trick knots she knows how to work quickly) enough that he can walk.
"You can take him over to the Wardstone Seelah. Let everyone know of our deal."
Seelah guides him back (the terrain is rough enough and his arms aren't free Seelah needs to help him over some rocks).
Once they are out of earshot... "You have some extraordinary senses right? Did anything he say feel like a lie? Anything else stand out to you?"
"He believed he was telling the truth as he knew it. Minagho mentioned an attack on the Wardstone via something called the Shield Maze just before I slew her. Many of the demons fled at that point; perhaps this vrolikai was among them."
"Alright... I think I'll interrogate one more minion just to corroborate everything, I don't want to be dragging around more than two prisoners, so I'll execute the rest once I've gotten some corroboration. We'll want one to guide us back to the Shield Maze so we can loot their base and rescue the mongrels. Not now, once we have more reinforcements, the Wardstone is the priority for now. And we will want reinforcements in case the greater demon didn't actually flee, a Vrolikai will be beyond everyone except you, it might even have a chance against you if it gets the drop on you."
"Very well. Shall I witness the next, or return to the Wardstone?"
"I wouldn't mind a second person watching for lies. Tactically I prefer your presence... and a bit of ominous looming isn't strictly forbidden by the Eagle Watch regulations on interrogation." (She says the last part with a bit of humor in her voice.)
Anevia chuckles at that.
She prepares for the second interrogation the same way. The minion she picks gives in much faster than the previous one, not even demanding a Paladin as assurance on her deal. He is a bit too eager to simply agree with everything Anevia says when she is corroborating details, but Anevia is clever about asking questions to check for this and mitigate it. Overall, it looks like much of the information is corroborated.
Anevia calls someone over and has them take the cultist back to the group waiting around the Wardstone. She then confers with Darth Occlus.
"Any lies stick out to you?"
"Nothing malicious, but he was guessing on several of the names..." Which she can list.
"That matches my impression... well I wasn't sure about that last name, so good to know for sure that was a guess."
Anevia thinks a moment.
"I don't think there is any useful information worth keeping another cultists alive for. Unless you would guess otherwise?"
She pulls out her knife and starts looking over the cultists.
"No, I am in agreement. I think we may wrap up this little diversion."
Intact corpses are best for avoiding undead problems. Does she need to remind Darth Occlus of that? Actually... do other planets have undead problems?
"Do you have problems with undead on 'other planets'? You know, the bodies don't get a respectful burial or get outright desecrated and then they spontaneously reanimate as a zombie or skeleton or whatever?"
"Right, so on this planet-" she is going to provisionally treat that story as true, but keep an eye out for discrepancies "-there are a bunch of risk factors for undead arising. Besides desecrating the bodies, there is: powerful regrets on the part of the deceased, certain kinds of planar anomalies, necromancer activity, fey activity, the God of Undeath intervening, uh... there are more obscure factors probably, maybe ask the wizard about it. Burning the bodies prevents corporeal undead, but incorporeal undead like ghosts are more troublesome to deal with, so the normal tradition in most places is burial and some prayers for the dead."
"So, circumstances permitting, you generally want corpses put together in one piece in the ground. It isn't usually worth a Make Whole (that is a second circle spell for repairing things I can't remember if I mentioned it earlier) but if you have one to spare and the corpse needs reassembly..."
"Anyway, I bring this up because I wasn't sure if you were going to offer to help-" Anevia nods at the sleeping cultists "-but I figured I would mention all this before you uh, got loping and chopping." Anevia lets a little bit of grim humor into her voice.
"I can kill just as well without removing any body parts, if you require assistance."
"If you wouldn't mind."
Anevia gets to it, carefully picking up a sleeping cultist, angling their neck so the blood won't spill on herself ,and slitting the cultist's throat.
Occlus frees her saber and circles in the other direction, dispatching the sleepers with surgical heart strikes.
Anevia only gets one more cultist by the time Darth Occlus is done.
"I'll have one of our wizards look over their bodies for any magical items or gear. They don't seem that well equipped, but you never know. And since you basically soloed all of them the norm is that you get first pick and best pick."
Anevia thinks a moment.
"Looting bodies of items particularly sentimental to the deceased is a risk factor in undead, but a small one, so in practice it isn't enough of a reason to not loot the bodies, at least of the more expensive stuff."
Back at the Wardstone, the crusaders are as they were before... they may have gotten slightly distracted from watching the different angles of approach with looking over at Anevia’s and Darth Occlus’s work with the cultists.
The wizard Aquilia and the sword mage are talking over arcane theory.
Seelah is trying to talk to the cultists about repentance and atonement.
Daeran is looking at Darth Occlus with curiosity.
Anevia addresses everyone "Hey everyone, don't get sloppy. Even if Darth Occlus can pick them off before they get close, some demons have some pretty long range abilities. You never know when a demon might try something."
She addresses the swordmage and the wizard. "I need someone to look over the cultists for any magic items worth looting. And maybe see if any of their weapons are cold iron."
"So, how did you find Iomedaen interrogations? Hopefully not too stifling to your sensibilities?"
He is totally hoping it was stifling.
"The rules are more restrictive than what I was taught, but evidently it works well enough for their purposes. Interrogation was never my field of specialty so I do not take issue with ceding to the professional perspective."
Occlus smirks. "Library science, history, archaeology. Ritual Sith magics."
"That is... ...an eclectic mix. Somehow I suspect Ritual Sith magics may not be the sort of magic the inquisition would exactly approve of? They can barely tolerate wizards as it is." He smirks.
This conversation has caught Aquilia's ear. "I think that is an exaggeration. …About wizards at least. I wouldn't want to deal with their reaction to some magic that doesn't fit neatly into the category of sorcerer magic, wizard magic, or divine magic from an approved God."
"My sort has very little to do with what I have seen of your magic here. Fortunately I am not looking for any inquisition's approval."
"They have a tendency to imprison and execute people they don't approve of, but I think driving off Deskari and saving this city might be something of a political obstacle to that in your case."
"Is there any smaller rituals you wouldn't mind demonstrating? I mean, once the current crisis is resolved." And if the ritual is Evil or something, better to know that sooner than later!
"Perhaps later," she says to the wizard.
And to Daeran, "They may try."
"Little. The fear which drives them is something I have seen before in small-minded graspers the galaxy over."
"I suppose that is too be expected. As much as I hate the inquisition and find Iomedaens annoying, there is something quite pathetic about the way demon cultists go begging to entities that don't put any effort into the pretense of valuing their existence. You know, some Baphomet cultists tried to recruit me once?"
"Truly yes. Sneaking around with plots and schemes would get in the way of my busy schedule of parties and leisure. So I turned them in to the inquisition."
"Oh, I'm always eager to take time out of my schedule to assist with the needs of the city!"
The sarcasm in his voice is thick.
"I've gone monster hunting at the prelate's request before..."
He leaves the statement open as if setting up a joke.
"And he had wanted proof of my expedition. But the monster's hide was tough, and the easiest part to cut away, that would serve as the definitive proof he wanted-" his voice gets serious, in a mock imitation of the prelate's voice "-happened to be the monsters phallus."
"The belief that consuming such things can enhance one's own virility is reasonably common across primitive cultures. They would account it a kingly gift."
That gets a chuckle from one of the nearby crusaders (they had heard a variation of that story before, but not that exact rationale for the Count's actions).
Dearan gives a small chuckle as well "I don't think he appreciated that benefit of it, no..."
He gives a dramatic bored sigh.
"Do you think if you fired off some lightning into the air it would draw in more demons? Watching you dismember them is quite preferable to this boredom."
"I doubt many remain who would wish to challenge the Wardstone by now. Were I a demon, at this point I would be either fled or hidden with easier prey."
The Wizard Aquilia address Darth Occlus. "If you would like, I could resume my summary on the basics of magic? I had already listed a decent number of more common and more illustrative spells, but even just a touch of basic theory and concepts can really help with understanding practical interactions between spells and effects!"
"I am not opposed, though I suspect the good count will not find this nearly so entertaining."
He waves his hand nonchalantly. "We can't have you throwing lightning at someone with a protection from energy up again. Or... what was that slamming effect you use? Some kind of telekinesis? Without this wizard's lectures, how would you know that the latest innovations from Absalom's academies include a 1st circle telekinesis immunity!"
Aquilia laughs at the joke. "I think the only immunity to telekinesis is spell resistance... do you know if your abilities are subject to spell resistance, Darth Occlus?" He thinks a moment "-telekinesis immunity is a joke right? I mean, greater spell immunity could block it, but the principle of Spell Immunity shouldn't generalize down to lower circle, at least not lower circle than the telekinesis itself, which would normally be 5th circle, except for some specialized variants... anyway that was a joke, yes?"
He just stares back. Do you really think he keeps up with the latest innovation in magic?
"I should think so. Though your magic really bears very little resemblance to the Force, so I would not assume that one defense will apply smoothly to the other."
He thinks to himself a moment, then thinks out loud.
"I think the easiest way to test your abilities interaction with spell resistance would be with a summon monster spell to summon an Outsider wit spell resistance, except we might have the problem you are so powerful we can't tell the difference between your abilities not allowing any spell resistance and you easily overpowering the spell resistance. Can you deliberately cast your abilities at a lower caster level? Or whatever the equivalent is with uh, 'the Force'."
"Then it should be doable if you can create a tiny amount of lightning or telekinesis... so I just need to figure out the lowest circle summon monster spell that gets something with spell resistance. And I can summon it myself if it is possible 2nd circle, but that might be too low. Otherwise we need to find someone that knows the spell."
He starts to lose himself in thought over possible creatures to summon then realizes he should clarify.
"Oh, I don't know if Anevia mentioned when she mentioned the summon monster spells, I think I skipped over it. Summon spells create a temporary magical body for the original creature, which remains on its original plane and is unharmed by whatever happens to the body created for it by the summon spell."
"Such a test should wait for a later time, in any case. This is hardly the best testing ground."
Now it is Aquilia's turn to sigh dramatically. "Of course, sometime later. Hopefully we can figure it out, before you face a demon with some hope of resisting your 'Force' effect."
The swordmage is back! He announces to everyone. "Between them, the cultists had two potions of cure light wounds, a scroll of cure light wounds, and a scroll of inflict light wounds (for some reason). A few weapons were cold iron, I laid them out separately, and then I did a first pass at laying out the other weapons by quality."
Ah, the spoils of battle. "My interest in the potions and scrolls would be primarily academic, and I do not care for the weapons." She pauses. "Though if any have significant monetary value, I would entertain offers of selling them."
"Does the Force do 'healing' also? And even if it does, if there are ever any cases were you could manage to swallow something but couldn't Force-cure yourself a potion is a good backup option."
"I will take that under advisement." And perhaps even act upon said advice, depending on what her studies reveal.
"Does your monk order require you to rely on 'the Force alone'? I've heard of monks from this planet that prefer to eschew all weaponry and magical gear... I think we had an adventuring monk like that pass through Kenabres a few years ago... I think a demon ate them."
"It sounds as though they were overconfident. I like to think of myself as better calibrated than that. Whatever accident that transported me here did not see fit to bring along my full battle kit, and as your tools, some magic excepted, appear primitive to my eyes, I will not be entrusting my life to them without a more thorough examination. Though of course, should I die some grisly ironic death related to this little foible, you may feel free to mock me posthumously."
Daeran is happy to banter back and forth for hours more. And Aquilia will take the periods of time he is bored to try to fill Darth Occlus in on useful information.
After another two hours of inactivity guarding the Wardstone, there is another pair of people lurking at a distance. They don't seem hostile like the demons or even the cultist, in fact, one of them seems to be weighing the possibility of getting the crusader's help.
Odd. "Have you been informed of any reinforcements?" Occlus asks Anevia.
"Nope."
Maybe Terendelev should have sent a runner to her to check in, but maybe she (correctly) figures Darth Occlus has it under control.
"I sense a pair that do not wish to kill us, for a change. Shall we greet them?"
"Uh, sure?" She's wondering who it could be? Some crusaders that fell down the chasm? But are only just now making their way over?
They are whispering among themselves.
"They are crusaders, Wendaug, they won't just kill us on sight! And I think the risk is worth it even if there is a chance they might."
He is at an alert even between his whispering and realizes some crusaders are approaching. He makes himself known.
"Uh, hello? We are looking for some help."
Not the strangest face she's ever seen, but certainly among those since her arrival here. Something about the sharp division between each half of the face. Hybrids don't normally work like that.
"Who are you, and how have you come here?"
"We're mongrelmen, and some of our people have gone missing. We were hoping we could get some help finding them..."
"An unsuccessful crusade, one must assume, to leave you cut off underground for generations."
"There are these ancient catacombs we call the Shield Maze, mostly we know to avoid them because people have gone missing hunting near them over the years, and I think some kids from our tribe have gotten lost there. Wenduag has survived going into the Shield Maze."
"I've told Lann, the kids are probably dead by now."
There is something about the topic Wenduag is avoiding, it is almost apparent even without Darth Occlus's senses.
"One of the cultists mentioned some mongrel prisoners. Not yet fully converted." Which suggests an obvious story for the spider-woman.
"What do you think they meant by converted?" The surprise Wenduag is showing is pretty obviously feigned.
"That sounds really bad, could some of you crusaders help us rescue them? And if you have a cultist captured alive could you make them tell us how to navigate the Shield Maze?"
Has she never had to lie before? One wonders.
"They should not be in any immediate danger. The disruption of the demonic attack on the surface seems to have extended its confusion to the forces in the Shield Maze. Still, I am unsure what forces we are willing to divert from their guard duty at this time."
"The Wardstone takes priority, but hopefully Terendelev should be sending some additional forces down to us soon and we can send some of our people to rescue your tribe's kids."
"Are you willing to risk your people like that? We've lost many of our best warriors and hunters to the Shield Maze over the years."
Even if these crusaders can kill cultists all day without any problem, Savamelekh is beyond any of them.
He is getting kind of frustrated at Wenduag, the plan was to convince the crusaders to help them, not to scare them away!
"One begins to wonder if you do not wish to see your people rescued," Occlus observes.
"I'm being realistic, and trying to do you a favor."
She really is doing them a favor, Savamelekh will slaughter the crusaders if he happens to be around.
"The vrolikai is reported to have fled," she tilts her head. "If that is your concern."
"I'd want to double check with one of our wizards, I'm not up on the more obscure greater demons, but I think so."
"How did you survive seeing it, Wenduag?"
He had kind of imagined her sneaking around carefully, but if this demon is so impressive it would be quite a feat for Wenduag to get away unnoticed...
"Don't be dense, boy, there is an obvious answer. Have you never spoken to your friend on even a vaguely related topic before?"
Though on the other hand, if her lies were never tested before, perhaps that is why they are so obvious.
"I..."
She's suggesting that Wenduag was, what, secretly working for the demon cultists this entire time? Maybe trading her life for luring others of their tribe to their deaths? But she normally warned people off the maze! Unless she was playing the demon cultists while actually working against them? He would like to believe that version of the story, but confronted with things directly he thinks he knows the real truth...
"How..."
He can't get the follow-up question out.
Okay, she needs to avoid Lann turning on her long enough for her to be in an advantageous position against him. And she needs enough ambiguity that these surfacers don't try to kill her outright as a demon cultist.
"I did what I had to do to be able to bring back a warning to the rest of the tribe to keep them away from the Shield Maze."
She starts backing away slowly.
She isn't sure if it's worth the effort to capture this mongrelwoman neather. She'll let Darth Occlus take the initiative on this.
Effort? What effort? Holding the neather in place is as simple as breathing for Occlus.
"Surely if that were true, you would not be running from your best opportunity to rescue those you couldn't save."
It takes her a moment to realize she is being prevented from moving and it isn't fear paralyzing her.
"Do you really think Savamelekh has fled? What does he have to flee from, he could kill you with a glance!"
"Greater demons can all teleport away and the Abyss doesn't exactly cultivate bravery or commitment in demons. As opposed to fleeing at the first sign someone might outmatch them."
"That insect creature, what was its name," Occlus says, deliberately casual. "Deskari? That one fled."
"She cut off 5 of his legs earlier! He had to fly back through a Gate he opened to the Abyss because he didn't have the legs to walk!"
Anevia breaks her cool demeanor to hype Darth Occlus up a little.
That sounds like bullshit. But she evidently isn't in a position to argue.
"I can guide you through the Shield Maze if you're so confident you can fight Savamelekh."
"I am sure your cooperation will be appreciated." Occlus smirks privately at Wenduag.
She gets the message, this woman is Wenduag's master now, and whoever the victor is between her and Savamelekh will be Wenduag's master thereafter.
"So you'll help? I mean, once you get the reinforcements? If you're going to help with my problem, I could stick around and help guard the Wardstone, I'm pretty good with my bow!"
Aenvia thinks the trusts this guy enough for that, but she gives a glance to Darth Occlus in case she picked up anything extra with her abilities.
"I see no reason to refuse that." Apart from his evident naivety, but he will not be on shift alone and others can make up for that deficiency.
"Sure, we can give someone else on shift a break early. And we didn't actually exchange names. I'm Anevia, this is Darth Occlus."
"I'm Lann." Is Wenduag going to introduce herself? And should they tie her up or something? He isn't sure if she actually means to cooperate.
"Wenduag." Darth Occlus can use her spell without speaking any words or making any motions, so Wenduag doesn't think she can get the drop on her, even if she gets her away from the other crusaders.
She's trying to think of how to covertly ask Darth Occlus if they need to tie up Wenduag or anything like that.
"Are you sure you want to trust Wenduag, uh..." he isn't sure if he wants them to take her bow and knife or tie her hands or something even more drastic.
"Not armed, I think." Occlus will telekinetically relieve her of her knife, bow, and arrows before allowing her to move again. "And I will be watching."
Lann looks at her skeptically. She spent years betraying their tribe, he doesn't think her loyalty will last much longer than it takes her to get out of the range of an arrow or a spell.
"Start by not making trouble now. Perhaps a chance will come later."
"Shall we head back to the Wardstone?" It is just out of sight and barely within earshot of them.
There are a few awkward forced chuckles. Someone attempts a half-joke in response back. "Mendev certainly has some interesting sorts of tieflings?"
That is pathetic but she needs to be making herself wanted by these people so they don't kill her as a demon cultist. She notes the already captured cultists.
Daeran addresses Darth Occlus directly. "These look like some interesting people you've picked up?"
"Neathers, apparently. Natives of the caverns below your fair city and reportedly descended of crusaders."
He tried to defuse the situation with some humor and that didn't work. Well actually, at least this person suggested bestiality, not cross breeding with demons, so really it is an improvement on Lann's worse case! He'll stoically ignore them and take up a defensive position as Anevia directs.
She sees a chance to make herself useful!
"Savamelekh has hinted that he made our ancestors carry out a version of the ritual he forces on us Neathers to make us more powerful."
“Eating the flesh of an Aasimar, then mastering the berserk demonic rage that comes over you as a result. Many fail to control the rage and are simply slain, but I succeeded in controlling it.”
“I never knew my flesh had such power. If I’m ever in need of some berserk demonic rage I’ll try giving myself a bite.”
This is horrifying to listen to. Luckily Anevia has him guarding an angle of approach where he can face away from them.
