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 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."
