But the real reason why she can't let it be is because -

- because -

- because she had one ally who helped at all when her people were being torn apart by a plague of magical monsters. One. Out of the half a dozen people who have professed to be wishing her and her people the best. She hadn't expected them to drop everything, but - most of them were Lawful. She expected - something. Them to hold to the spirit of their word, instead of just the letter.

They wrote apologetic letters about how they hadn't heard anything about a plague that causes magical otherworldly monsters to explode out of people, and wished her good fortune, and that was that.

Maegar Varn, Chaotic Good rogue, who never promised her a damn thing, fucking helped. He didn't know what she was dealing with, didn't have any idea how to efficiently stop it, but sent her healing wands and two healers and half a dozen men to help her run the hospitals tidily. This seems like it shouldn't be very much, in the wake of a terrifying pandemic (poisoning, actually, as she later discovered), but. It was enough. It was what she needed.

His soul has been captured in one of Vordakai's gems, trapped, waiting to be devoured for power. It was his wizard, his lieutenant, that had been snatched for his spellbook.

Sivetrys is not Lawful. Lawful is, in her experience, mostly a thing that people use to make pretty scaffolds to lie to themselves with. There is no oath that binds her to kill this lich, but she's going to do it anyway, because damn it, she is not letting someone like that remain as fucking lich food.

But all of the logical reasons she mentioned earlier are why she's convinced herself this isn't suicidal and insane, so.

She will, to anyone that asks, go with those.

His tomb is underground, inside a Forbiddance, hidden by an extremely antiquated Mage's Private Sanctum, but they know where it is. Teleports within a certain radius outside of the Forbiddance are redirected to a killing chamber below - obviously they haven't tested the exact range of that one - but they know about it, and have a confirmed marking of where it doesn't reach, and can as such avoid it. Vordakai himself doesn't have teleportation capabilities, anymore, but his lair is set up to deal with them.

Most people would not take this as a challenge, but most people are not a sorceress with seven castings of Stone Shape per day, and the ability to use Summon Monster V to summon earth elementals to map out the edges of the Forbiddance, and the shape of the tomb inside. This is a solvable problem. She makes a network of tunnels, hidden under her own Private Sanctum, and will have a perfect, tidy map of this place eventually. She will know the exact edges of the Forbiddance, where this damn lich likes to make his lair inside, and, importantly, where he puts his undead servants, so that those can be quietly removed from the equation before the main confrontation with their master. It is tedious, methodical work, but she can tolerate that just fine, thank you. It is something to do while waiting to see if Lastwall is going to lend her a fucking paladin to kill this thing, or if she is going to need to teleport to Vigil itself to shake them down for their lich slaying expertise.

Probably, they'll help. She's providing the teleports for it, and is doing all of the footwork for getting this done properly. All the research, all the lair finding and mapping, all of the logistics of getting down there and introducing a sword to its jeweled fucking skull. Lastwall wants their paladins to circle up just as much as she does; this is a perfect excursion for one, adventuring party and setup provided in advance. And if Lastwall won't lend her one, fine, she'll go looking in Absalom, or Andoran, or - look. This is what paladins are for. This calls for one. She doesn't think she'll need to actually kidnap one, because paladins are themselves, but it is ostensibly on the table. Just highly unlikely to come up, when straightforward cooperation is clearly the way to go.

There's a rumble of - something, deep below, as Sivetrys is carefully mapping the lair with occasional summoned earth elemental assistance. Their cleric, Tristian, is also present, providing her Undeath Sense to figure out where minions are located in said lair, and Hide from Undead to, well. Hide from undead, which they are quite fortunate Vordakai prefers over living slaves. Ekundayo lingers nearby in his typical hunting-silence, unwilling to leave the two squishiest members of the party to flirt with undeath by themselves in a hole. Linzi and Jubilost are not present; they are doing demilich related research and preparation.

".... That came from the direction of the Teleport Trap chamber," offers Sivetrys, in case her companions do not have a systematic three dimensional map in their heads about what is where relative to where they are. (Ekundayo probably does, Tristian probably doesn't.)

"Do you think he might have caught someone uninvolved?" asks Tristian, breaking the round of silence as all present (non animal) party members digest the implications of it.

"We haven't verified that his trap extends above ground, we've just been playing it safe, so..."

Both Neutral Good, and extremely squishy, members of the party look at their 'Don't get themselves killed' chaperone.

Ekundayo is painfully aware that he knows exactly what both of them want to go do, right now, even if it could in fact get them all killed and blow their cover for this operation. Even though they only have three out of their usual five non-animal party members present, and that this Stone Shaped hole in the ground is too small to have all of their animal companions present. (Both are guarding the entrance of the tunnel.) But he also knows them, and knows that if he says No, they will listen. This choice will ultimately be his.

Their ranger is a pragmatic, professional man, who thinks in risk factors and long term tactical implications. If they act, it should be quickly, so as to cover their own actions under the guise of - whatever is going on down there. And they should act, because they do not want their enemy to gain resources of a teleport capable spellcaster, or Vordakai breaks his containment. But then, it could also be a trap.

It is not, ultimately, a hard decision.

"We go," he says firmly, and that is that.

They relocate to the part of their tunnel system closest to the explosion; it turns out to be the result of a tunnel collapse. There's a part of the tomb that's now cut off from the rest.

This makes what to do next very obvious. They Stone Shape themselves an opening to the now cut off part of the tomb, and Ekundayo is the one to go through, bow in hand. (Demiliches have permanent True Seeing. Actual stealth is a better shield than Invisibility, and he's under Hide from Undead regardless. Not that the latter is foolproof, when dealing with a lich.)

What is on the other side?

There's a (frankly somewhat unsettling) half-elf with huge white wings. She's wearing a bandolier full of iron vials, clothing and backpack both full of pockets, and a fancy headband and less fancy other magical items,

a very pretty half-elf in shiny mithril armor and an unnaturally blank expression on her face, wearing a string of coins around her neck,

and a human swordswoman, who sees them first and shouts something in Tianji, gripping her sword tightly.

Then she starts coughing horribly.

(All 3 of them have arrows stuck into them, and the winged elf is also clearly struggling to breathe.)

Alive, but injured. And they speak a different language. Inconvenient, but manageable.

He takes a potion one might recognize as a healing potion from his belt - one of the mass produced, bright red ones. He mimes drinking it, then rolls it over to them, keeping his hands away from his quiver. His bow stays in hand, but it's only a threat with the arrow.

Then he steps out of the way of the passage, motions towards it with his head, and clearly prepares himself to hold this spot. Not from them, but from - whatever is on the other side of that collapsed passage. Even with the language barrier, his intent is obvious.

'Go. I'll cover you.'

-She looks at the other half-elf, automatically, and then remembers that this is no longer an available action.

She makes - well, it's unclear if she makes eye contact, but she looks at her third party member, and whispers something barely audible, and reaches down to grab one of the potions.

She nods jerkily, grabbing the other healing potions. She drinks one and gently tips the other to the armored half-elf's mouth, and then pulls on her hand.

...she looks back at the rubble sadly as she is led away from it.

Their strange new archer ally is a silent, stealthy guardian. He does not currently need to turn anything into a pincushion, but he is ready to.

(He'll be the last through the hole, naturally.)

And crammed on the inside of the passage, is a blonde hooded man, carrying an emblem of Sarenrae.

Behind him is another half elf, this one with coppery-red hair.

"Are these all the injured?" the cleric of Sarenrae asks, first in Taldane, and then, at their incomprehension, in Celestial.

...She frowns, like she's been presented with an impossible puzzle.

"Our wizard was dominated by a demilich, and hit our cleric with an icy prison."

She speaks in a slow, emotionless register that barely rises above a whisper.

Ah.

"I'm sorry." Celestial makes this very clearly a 'condolences,' sorry, not a 'I am personally responsible' sorry.

The half elf behind him sucks in a breath at the news, but doesn't say interrupt.

"... We'll do what we can," says the man, and then he channels.

She gasps as the arrows fall out of her - "thank you" - and then starts coughing again. 

"Cloudkill," she whispers. "...hit me and Luto the worst, Zan is doing better." Pause, glance. "...physically."

"Feeblemind," diagnoses the man. "I didn't prepare Heal today, but I have two Lesser Restorations."

They were sort of meant to be used to let their divine casters skip sleep, for obvious reasons, but, well. Needs must. He gets to casting, again. He doesn't know which one 'Luto' is, but the speaker being badly affected makes his first choice of target very easy.

All members of the group now back into the tunnels, Ekundayo returns, and gives a nod to Sivetrys.

Who bites her lip, but then closes the passage behind them with another Stone Shape. She thinks she has the finesse to make it look like the wall was never tampered with, which might keep their tunnels secret from Vordakai a little longer.

Lesser Restoration. On the winged half-elf, then - it was the martial one that needed the second, from context, yes?

She straightens up a bit, having an easier time breathing, and leans against the wall. 

(The swordswoman is the other one having the coughing fits, yes.)

Lesser Restoration.

(The sorceress is murmuring a quick summary to Ekundayo, since he does not speak Celestial.)

(This earns a quiet swear. In Osiriani.)

"We should relocate somewhere less precarious," says Tristian, gently but firmly. "There's a larger room further down the passage, where we have our meetings." He motions in the direction away from the now closed wall.

"I'll make us a Rope Trick there," offers Sivetrys, in Celestial, as they head back. Then she switches back to Taldane for Ekundayo. "I think I should go get Jubilost and Linzi, we do not want him to have time to get at their wizard's spellbook."

Ekundayo doesn't speak Celestial, but he recognizes the spell name anyway. "If we plan to make our move now, we should save as many spells as possible."

... Damn it. He's right. It's very annoying of him. They're all going to be uncomfortably crammed into these tiny passageways, and it's going to suck a bunch, and he's absolutely right. She gives Ekundayo an acknowledging nod.

".... No Rope Trick, we might try to counterattack today, before he can replenish his spells. What did he cast, did you keep track?"

She glances at her winged friend, reads something on her face, and nods tightly.

She tilts her head. "Some kind of Curse on our wizard, the Dominate Person, the Feeblemind, and the Cloudkill."  

Nod. "Okay. That's - all fifth circle, unless they're one of the ones that he doesn't know how to squish down, which one of them might be. I'd need to ask - our bard. So he'd be out, or nearly so, of them..."

"I prepared Spellcrash, and Fire Seeds," says Tristian, very quietly. Both at sixth circle. He is now feeling that maybe he should have prepared Heal instead of either of the things he actually chose, but, well. Such is life as a cleric. Sometimes you make bad calls, and regret not leaving slots open. Other times, you regret not having emergency spells prepared at all.

"Are you forgetting the Dominated wizard," says Ekundayo, who still doesn't speak Celestial, but does recognize the tone of plotting in both of his companions.

"...mostly out of spells, nothing above second... about thirty feet of her dimension door ability," she says slowly. In Taldane.

That gets a nod.

"... Were you just out of combat when you got caught? Are there other things you need to recover if we decide we're counterattacking immediately?"

...she looks at her swordswoman.

...yeah, sure, whatever.

"My extracts and infusions are - mostly spent. I could make... six more bombs. Zan can't do anything. Luto needs..." she trails off, grabs a flask, and chucks it at Luto, whistling slightly as she does. 

(Luto catches it without looking up, drinks it without inspecting it, and then rolls it back along the floor.)

The half elven sorceress nods.

"I need to go pick up two of our companions, if - you'd rather get Zan somewhere safe, or don't... think the risk is worth trying, even with backup. We know where his teleport trap doesn't reach."

"But we are probably going to attack him today," predicts the cleric.

"... Yeah. Yeah, probably. If either of you want to help."

She shrugs. Looks at Luto. 

Luto's been crying, but this hasn't stopped her from following the conversation. "If we help, will you help us save V- o-our friends?"

mumblemumble in Tianji

"You don't know that!" she cries out angrily.

"We would not enter the demilich's lair with the intent to leave them there," says Tristian, gently but firmly.

Oh, dear - she doesn't understand what they're saying, but she can attempt to intercede with sorceress social magic despite that. It's her job. One of them, anyway.

"Linzi - our bard - has Unbreakable Heart," she interrupts, trying to get the two to maybe not fight each other instead of the lich. "Which might get your wizard out from the Dominate."

She's not going to mention that, Vordakai being himself and preferring his slaves to be undead, might have just killed her, to raise her as undead. Probably he's waiting for that, right? He wouldn't have the spell prepared, making an undead spellcaster is hard...

-nod. "...I'll help. If Luto wants to."

"We'll help, yes." She glares at her alchemist, who doesn't visibly react.

...Zan(?) looks between her friends sadly.

"Okay. Um. Our companions are in Isarn," look, it's not the best place to be doing research, but it is the best place to be doing research within one teleport jump of where they are, and they already hit New Stetven. "which - is probably not a good place to keep your friend safe. What... do you want to do, there?"

Augh. Zan...

"Can we just... keep her nearby?" Vague puzzlement. 

"What? No, we can't do that, we have to keep her safe!"

Headtilt. "She would want us to focus on getting the bodies back." 

She takes in a sharp breath, tears welling at her eyes again.

"Um. We might be able to find a place to put her in Isarn that's more safe? It is a city, just. Not the safest one. It does seem better than... stuffing her in a nook in the Stone Shape hole. I can take three passengers, so one of you can see to setting her up somewhere that would be okay? Or paying for a Heal at a temple, if you can afford one, and there's one going spare today."

Headshake. "...can't afford Heal. Ridaya had... most of our money." She pauses, head tilting slightly.

"Could keep her in the city. Does it matter?" She shrugs.

She snarls, spinning around to grab the quiet alchemist by her bandolier.

"Does it matter? Does it matter? Listen to you! Don't you care about Zan at all? About Vakt? About Ridaya?"

...she looks at Luto's hand on her bandolier, and says nothing.

"No yelling. We are in enemy territory," says Ekundayo, who still can't speak Celestial. He doesn't feel like he's missing much, despite that.

"- Um. Grief is handled in different ways, please stay focused on the lich who did this, and how we can kill him most efficiently, while keeping everyone on our side as safe as possible?" says Sivetrys. "And - yes, please keep the volume down, we're almost out of the tunnels but we're not quite there yet. Something might carry over."

Speaking of. Um. Can. Can there be less grabbing the alchemist by her bandolier, and more progressing in their painful almost-single-file progression through this dark and cramped hole?

She's looking straight at Luto, like nobody else is there. "...You don't speak the language of Isarn. And -" she gestures frustratedly "- it's still Zan in there. I don't know what she'd want. So it doesn't matter." (Her voice is raised, for her, which means it's still below normal volume, though it isn't any less halting. It's clear that her throat is raspy.)

Zan makes a sad noise, looking at them.

"She'd want to be near us," Luto whispers, letting go of Uma. And she wouldn't want us to fight, she can't bring herself to say.

"... Okay. Um. We'll set her up in the little room near the surface, then. We're almost coming up on it now."

There is, in fact, a little alcove up ahead, just as daylight begins to spill into their tunnel.

The daylight is blocked by a feline head, poking his nose into the hole. Person is back???? Does this mean it is Playtime again??? (He much prefers Playtime to Sit And Guard Time. That time is very boring.)

Some might find a large carnivorous cat blocking the obvious exit out alarming, or something.

She shrinks back into that calm blankness when Luto lets her go, like the contact was the only thing that was pulling her into her body.

(She looks at the new people when the cat pokes its face out. They don't seem surprised, so it's probably fine?)

Luto nods at Sivetrys' suggestion.

...Her hand moves to her katana when the cat appears, and she puts herself directly in front of Zan.

Oh, oops, she forgot to mention the two gigantic animal companions in this party. That's on her, sorry everyone.

"- he's mine," she clarifies, for the benefit of the new temporary party members. Then she switches languages for the benefit of Bergamot. (Taldane, again.) "Hi, kitty. We made some new friends, please be nice to them."

Friends! Bergamot knows that word. Okay, then they require inspection. It's in the rules. The cat rules.

He's going to approach, ears forward and tail at a friendly angle. Close quarters are really not a barrier for cats, even very big cats.

"Kitty, please wait."

"He won't hurt you. I can have him protect Zan, actually, if she's not going to find that, uh, upsetting." Is everyone okay with her cat coming in to sniff them?? She doesn't know these people very well, so she can't just model and follow their preferences in advance.

Wait? Yes, fine. Bergamot is a good kitty, so he stops his approach.

Luto relaxes, and offers a hand for sniffing. "I don't think Zan will find that upsetting. She likes animals." 

-nod.

"Now you can come sniff. Keep that one," and she has to crane a bit to properly point at Zan in the cramped space, "safe, please."

Keep the shiny one safe? Not the most fun job, but maybe there will be Playtime soon. Anyway, Bergamot is a good kitty, and will do as his person says.

First though: sniffing!! Very important business, sniffing.

Tristian leads the way into the little alcove, which is... slightly... better for all being crammed underground. While now being sniffed by a cat.

"We also have a wolf, but he's too big to fit down here," adds Sivetrys. "I'm going to head to the safe teleportation zone to pick up the rest of our party, if there's nothing you need from civilization?"

She radiates discomfort in her body language at the sniffing, but doesn't say anything or shrink away. 

She shrugs. "Lesser restoration, maybe?" 

No requests from her. (Kitty! She introduces it to Zan.)

Nod. "I'll get a scroll for it if Jubilost doesn't have it prepared. Shouldn't take long." Language switch. "Ekundayo, please come with me, because buddy system for we squishies?"

"Pleased I didn't have to remind you. Okbo! The living ones are to be guarded. Listen to Tristian while I'm gone."

A giant wolf pokes his very large head into the tunnel entrance, nearly taking up the entire space, then gives what is probably an affirmative, wolfy gruff.

Bergamot is smaller than Okbo, so he can be in here and: sniff sniff sniff sniff!! Hi, new people, he will be curling around the shiny one for guarding.

She looks down at Bergamot, glances at Luto, and then pets the kitty. 

She should...

"Luto. Keep watch?" She sounds - almost plaintive? 

(She folds her wings inward.)

-nod.

Leopards do not purr, but this one does like pets, and happily shows Zan the exact right places to put her hands. New friends are great, guarding a person is better than guarding a place, Bergamot is pleased.

The sorceress and ranger depart without fanfare.

And Tristian will go quietly sit in a corner in the hole, trying not to get in anyone's way, and... also trying not to give too many longing looks to Umakhi's wings.

"... My name is Tristian," he says, when he realizes no one introduced themselves. "The leopard is Bergamot, his mistress is Sivetrys. The wolf is Okbo, and his ranger is Ekundayo. My apologies, I realize we hadn't exactly introduced ourselves."

The winged lady doesn't seem to notice or respond - she's already pulled out a notebook and started writing in it very quickly. 

She sighs, but it's as much fond as it is exasperated. 

"Sorry about her; she doesn't mean offence. She's not especially talkative, even when she's happy." 

"I'm Luto. Miss silent wings is Umakhi." (one of Umakhi's wings twitch, but she doesn't look up or stop writing.) "And that's Zan." A second sigh, much sadder this time. 

"No apologies are necessary. I am not offended by silence."

She nods. "...Not sure I have much to chat about at the moment." (...but, if Zan were okay, she would, and...)

Fidget, fidget. "How did you meet the others?"

"It was years ago, now, for most of them. Sivetrys and Linzi were investigating the same desecrated temple of Erastil I was, joining together was just practical. We've stayed together as a party since then. Ekundayo and Jubilost came later. Jubilost was mapping the area and writing one of his overviews for publishing, he is very pleased to work with a teleportation sorceress. Ekundayo..." He trails off. "... was of a similar sort of meeting as this one, I'd say. Please refrain from asking him about it."

She nods along, and then winces as she processes the implication. "I won't mention it."

Nod. "Thank you. ... We're a primarily Good aligned party, if we hadn't made that clear. We were always going to confront Vordakai." You're not asking anything of us we weren't already going to give, goes unsaid, because Tristian is a coward.

Luto nods. "I hope we can help it happen more quickly."

And save our family, she doesn't say.

They will most likely help this go much better. Tristian is, to his shame, glad they are here, despite the horrible position it has put them in. It will make things easier.

She continues writing in her notebook for several minutes, and then she reaches out a wing and gently taps Tristian with it to get his attention.

She offers him the notebook.

Tristian is disturbed from his brooding, and jumps a little. The touch of a wing is - not something he expected to experience when he woke up this morning.

"Yes? Ah, thank you." He takes the notebook, and inspects what she's written.

Written in perfect Taldane is a section-level table of contents and several neatly formatted pages:

1. "Demiliches"
   • Everything she remembers about demiliches (It's frankly an absurd amount of information. You'd think she studied demiliches for a year, if you didn't know Umakhi.) 
   • An apology noting that she's sure this section is missing one or two details; she didn't prepare the right set of buffs for research today. 
2. "Umakhi"
   • A detailed overview of what her alchemical focus areas are.
     • (It's got a lot of impenetrable jargon, but 'explosives' come up a lot.)
   • Umakhi's current supply of available infusions and extracts are and what her combat role is.
     • It's mostly bombs. She can throw three at a time with haste; they do a fair bit of damage, and she can make them Good-aligned.
     • She has only has seven left today, though.
   • She's going to be of limited value against a demilich. They should use her preserved shield infusions and these potions as needed and she will toss bombs until she runs out, but a demilich is hard to hurt with an alchemists' bombs, even holy ones.
3. "Luto"
   • Luto is a lightning-fast katana swashbuckler with some items that improve her reach.
     • She can stab things remarkably efficiently.
     • She does a lot of bodyguarding and area denial.
     • She has a Heroism; it's wearing off soon.
   • On a good hit, she can hurt a demilich, and she's better than average at scoring good hits.
     • But she's not especially well-equipped to be in melee range with one.
   • A line in smaller, shakier handwriting that just says "worried about her".
4. "Zan"
   • Zan is a Battle Oracle (when she's not feebleminded).
   • She fights with a greatsword and is good at working with Luto.
   • A list of Zan's useful items, with notes about which ones she's most comfortable lending out when she's able to make that choice for herself.
   • (a tearstain)
5. "Ridaya"
   • A list of every spell prepared today and a much shorter list of which few she still had left.
   • Notes on her school preference and her teleporting ability, including Umakhi's guess about how much she has left of it.
   • A list of her equipment, especially the scrolls and wands and rod she has on her person
   • The buffs Umakhi believes Ridaya to still have, and her estimates of their remaining durations.
   • A list of every spell in Ridaya's spellbook, sorted by circle and school.
     • A note explaining that she has a bookplate of recall on it.
   • (several tearstains)
6. "Vakt"
   • Vakt was a cleric of Kofusachi.
   • Umakhi is pretty sure she's dead
     • because she was trapped in an icy prison
     • and then the tunnel collapsed on her.
     • (more tearstains)
   • A list of items she had on her, sorted by rough combat utility if looted.
   • The buffs Vakt would still have, if she was still alive.
7. "Storage"
   • Ridaya was carrying a type III bag of holding, containing:
     • A substantial amount of miscellaneous mundane equipment.
     • Spare bulk alchemical supplies for Umahki.
     • A variety of utility magical items, including a mix of feather tokens, a half-used set of marvelous pigments, and more.
     • A partially-finished headband Umakhi had been making for Ridaya.
     • A rather unusual item indeed for a group of non-Lawful Good adventures to be carrying.

... Ah. He swallows the lump in his throat, and tries not to think how painful this must have been to write. (How brave Umakhi was to write it.)

"Thank you," repeats Tristian, softly. "This will help very much. ... The sword might be a problem. Let's hope he doesn't have a chance to find it in her bag."

She nods slightly, and pulls out a dense book to read. 

She's keeping watch, as promised.

Kitty!

Pets!!!!

Once they've teleported, Sivetrys hands Ekundayo her coin pouch, and says, "You okay braving the horrors of social interaction for the sake of getting a scroll of Lesser Restoration?"

"If you don't mind the price gouging I am likely to incur," says Ekundayo, dryly. He is, by far, the most blatantly foreign looking member of their party, and as such he will get 'rich teleporting adventurer' prices. Sivetrys would get better prices, and has a lot more spending money available, and Ekundayo would be better at finding their wayward party members in a city. But then he'd have to be the one to explain to them that they're fighting a demilich today. He is aware that she is sparing him from Linzi's anxious energy and Jubilost's vitriol, and he's not going to spurn this mercy.

"I'll try to scrounge up anything else that might be useful in half an hour," he adds.

"Thanks," she says, with a smile.

Like he's the one doing her the favor. Ha.

And off he goes, to brave the horrors of civilization.

As much as she isn't actually a ranger, it's not that hard to find Linzi and Jubilost. There are approximately a million cafes in Isarn, but they go quickly when one has Overland Flight up. Normally she'd rather be a bit more incognito than this, but, well. Needs must. They're on a time crunch.

"- you know the way they have politicized beverages here is quite absurd," says a gnome in glasses, a bit too loudly. "Coffee is for the common man? Ha! Don't they know that it only grows in tropical environments? It's only cheaper because it's sold by Geb -"

"Sivi!" says Linzi, who does not find it hard to spot a flying sorceress. "Sivisivisivi I got a wand of Shatter!"

"Yes, and traded away a wand of Fireball for it, as if that were any kind of sensible business decision."

"Lalalala I can't hear you over the sound of our flying Fireball dispenser, who by the way made the wand, and Shatter is an objectively weird thing to make a wand of~"

Sivetrys snorts, and lands beside their table.

"Oh, well done, thank you Linzi! A wand of Shatter will be great."

"Certainly much more actionable than getting our hands on a vorpal weapon. Which of us would even use it, if we have one? None of us are so stupid as to want to go close to the thing."

"... We, uh, might. Have a solution to that. If you'd happened to find a vorpal weapon that was available."

Linzi gasps.

"Did you get a paladin??? Is that why you're back early, I knew you could do it!! It's like, the biggest paladin bait quest ever, right, of course they would want to send one..!"

"Not... exactly."

And she will get to explaining the whole... situation.

...

This is an affair that is worthy of cleaning his glasses.

"... And you're quite sure it's not some sort of..." he begins, but then he stops himself. "No, no, of course it isn't, he isn't the type to do anything clever and not stamp 'VORDAKAI' on it, obnoxiously."

He gives a long suffering sigh.

"Yes, yes, very well. But don't go thinking that just because he's missing some spell slots he's any less dangerous, recall he still has that soul trap ability of his."

Linzi is surprised.

"... You've been arguing with us about this for the past two weeks!! And now you're just, just? I mean I'm not complaining, but...!"

"Thank you," says Sivetrys, who is putting together why he is not going to be a stodgy prick about this, actually. She is resisting the urge to hug him. (He would not appreciate it, especially not in public.)

"I'm not heartless, you know," replies Jubilost, somewhat offended. "And paladin or no, we really won't get a better shot at this. He'll be no easier to deal with tomorrow, with modern spellform and two new spellcasting slaves. And..." He trails off. "... well, it's not as if they wandered into the demilich's lair to go poking through his things, like that Willas fellow. This is just a terrible case of rotten luck."

Softie.

"But unfortunately no, no vorpal weapons available in a hurry. It'll be holy balm and firebombs for us, I'm afraid. And we'd better hope he doesn't have that bird of his around, though we should of course plan for it..."

"Prioritize Silence before Unbreakable Heart, even...?"

She already knows the answer, she's just looking for reassurance, because leaving someone under a Dominate seems wrong, even when it's the right call.

"Yes, girl, unless you want us all to die to one of his wails!"

Much of their time spent linking back up with Ekundayo is spent in this kind of rapid-fire strategizing. Linzi and Jubilost have not, ultimately, learned anything new about demiliches as a species from their time in Isarn. (Well, maybe throwing the head under a Final Blade, that may or may not count as a vorpal weapon, but no one's going to let them borrow one of those for a lich lair raid.)

So they return, with their two smaller party members in tow.

"Ah, yes, marvelous, going to do the bulk of our planning in a hole," grumbles the smallest person present. In celestial. Which he speaks, because he is well-educated. "Right! Introductions can wait, we haven't the time. You!" He points at Luto, then immediately hands her a vial of... something... "You have a sword, here, put this on it just before we go diving to our dramatic confrontation. Just before, mind, as the rest of us prepare our round buffs. It will only help for one hit, but we do not want to give this wretched thing any time with which to do any of its nonsense."

Ekundayo silently passes the scroll of Lesser Restoration to Tristian. He was, as predicted, absolutely ripped off for it.

?? Wuh -

Umakhi unfolds herself from the wall and plucks the vial out of Luto's hand, inspecting it rapidly.

Violet, viscous, a wiff of cinnamon... "Holy balm," she murmurs to Luto, handing it back. "Remember the arrow dip, with Kal and her tribe?"

She nods, then turns stiffly to the gnome and nods again. "Got it, thanks." 

Tristian will get to casting Lesser Restoration, then.

Linzi leans around Sivetrys and gives a little awkward wave, and an even more awkward smile. She was not well educated, so about all she knows in Celestial is 'Hello,' which seems like it'd be false advertising to say.

Ah, she recognizes that look. From herself.

Luto does an awkward wave in return, and slips through the room like a leaf on the wind, arriving next to Linzi.

She whispers (with the enunciation of someone reciting something they memorized in the last 30 minutes) "Sorry, I only speak Celestial and Tianji" in barely recognizable Halit. 

Yeah, Linzi gets it. Her attempt at a smile widens a little, and she says the other phrase she knows in Celestial, which is:

"Here to help," she says, which is of course a single word in Celestial. Because it's Celestial.

The gnome ignores this interaction, and turns his gaze to Sivetrys.

"And what are you standing around for, Miss Baroness This-Was-All-My-Idea? None of that! Off you go, scroll of Detect Undead, into the enemy Sanctum, get to figuring out where in this wretched hole the bastard is. See about giving yourself one of those sorcerer pep talks of yours, while you're at it, our tactical options will be much better if you rip the Teleport Trap and Forbiddance down around his ear-holes."

It's nice to know he is serious about this.

"Yes, Jubilost," says Sivetrys agreeably. She gives a little whistle to Bergamot for him to follow, then squeezes her way past everyone, to the little tunnel that goes past the Mage's Sanctum.

Oop! His person is calling, gotta go! Thanks for the pets, shiny person, bye!

Oh. Bye, kitty... 

"Now! You, fellow scholar of the alchemical arts!" This is directed at Uma. "What all do you have available, and what all is currently active on yourself and your martial companion," continues the gnome that will not be stopped.

(Lesser Restoration.)

And then, to spare Uma from the horrors of talking to Jubilost, Tristian just hands him the notebook she gave him.

"What is this now?" He looks at the paper. "Ah! Yes, very good, should have expected it, really, you're an alchemist of caliber, naturally..."

The impossible has occurred; gnome bossiness has been stopped. He's busy reading.

Umakhi has already retreated back to her wall, though now that she knows the gnome is also an alchemist, she's looking at him and his gear with some curiosity.

He seems to have specialized differently than she has; there are little tiny frozen creatures in the bottles on his bandolier. She might remember that some alchemists are obsessed with cataloging and preservation, and he seems to be one of those. He's missing the equipment to make his bombs holy, but he has a similar sort of quick-draw layout that implies he is just as fast as she is with throwing bombs, and also hasn't yet used any today. He is also clearly under the effects of a cognatogen, just as she is; recent intake, probably on the way here.

"Yes, excellent, I can work with this," he mutters, and then starts mixing the appropriate array of extracts for buffing. "Buffs, if you please, wolf last in case we can't manage to bring him along," he adds, not looking up. "Skip the Heroism unless you've already made it up, the bard has Good Hope."

"The bard has a name, tyrant," mutters Linzi, but she does obediently get to buffing people.

Tristian doesn't say anything, but does the same. He has some extra scrolls of Hide from Undead; he's been making them in his spare time. For literally this reason.

Good Hope... oh, the bard spell that's Heroism, but shorter and for the whole party. 

All the stuff she has left that will actually be useful for her and Luto is minutes or less, so nothing to do but get vials in order and wait. 

... and even she goes and hugs Zan, surprising both Luto and herself. 

Zan wraps her arms around Uma in a practiced way that avoids uncomfortably jostling her wings and holds her firmly in place. Her eyes are wet with confused concern. 

"We'll get them back", she whispers, even though Zan can't understand her and she's not sure she believes it. 

She does not need to speak the available languages to understand that.

Fortunately, she doesn't have to social, because she is busy buffing.

Buffs occur, under the watchful (and domineering) direction of Jubilost.

Being a sorcerer isn't fair.

Nothing in Golarion is really fair, of course, but - the whole concept of sorcery is founded upon a fundamental absence of fairness. There is no test of talent, or skill, or devotion that gets a sorcerer their powers. It's pure luck, plain and simple. Having a magical bloodline helps the chances, but does not, actually, guarantee a damn thing. Magic is just a thing that a sorcerer has, with no choice or power over the matter. They don't get to choose what powers their magic, and they don't get to opt out, and steering towards acquiring specific spells is an art, not a science. Wizards are the ones that get to choose what spells go in their spellbooks; sorcerers get to study the scrolls that contain the spellform, and try very, very hard to reach for it with their souls. If they even have a scroll for it. Which, in this case, she doesn't, actually.

Wizards get their circles sooner, too. Sivetrys suspects this is connected; something about being able to know what they're reaching for, and efficiency of power placement. They are not stretching their (proverbial) arms out in the dark trying to shape something by their will and talent, they have neatly allocated resources that they then build into set patterns, that other wizards figured out. Historically, this was often by observing and reverse engineering sorcerer spells, which is for the record very unfair. Not that Sivetrys would want to specifically take sorcerer-sourced spells from wizards, that's not what she wants at all, it's just - the relationship is, for the most part, pretty one way. (And also wizards are often snobs that look down their noses at sorcerers for not earning their magic quote 'The hard way,' like blazing a trail into the near unknown entirely by force of personality is not also hard.)

Anyway, this is all to say that Sivetrys is pretty sure that she's at the point where, if she were a wizard, she would be sixth-circle. She's based her life around doing magic, and she's got a feel for these things now. Tristian is sixth-circle, and has been for literal months, and shut up, she's not jealous (she is, a little bit), she's very happy for him, just also please c'mon she wants it so badly!!!! But she is not a wizard, she is a sorceress, so: here she is, at fifth-circle, perpetually feeling like she can almost reach it but not quite being able to grasp the magic she wants with her mind.

Wanting it is not the problem, though. Being a sorcerer is about need. She needs to need this.

So.

Here is what will happen if Sivetrys does not manage to break into casting sixth circle spells:

They will have to brute force their way into Vordakai's lair. They will have to walk into a Forbiddance, or possibly a series of Forbiddances, if Vordakai has any sense, which admittedly he might not. Either way, they have exactly zero passwords for any of them, and Tristian will need to heal them immediately after, which will eat several of their channels. Tristian admittedly has a lot of channels, but every single one that is used to heal them is not being used to do horrible things to undead, or heal them from other damage they were not forced to directly eat. Then, they will be essentially trapped inside, both in the sense that they can't teleport out, and also that Vordakai will know where they entered from, and be able to cut off their escape. They will be forced to physically fight their way to where Vordakai is located. There will be traps. There will be ambushes. Vordakai will absolutely show up at the exact worst time, probably several worst times, to pick them off one by one with his bullshit soul-eating nonsense. He will have time to rally his forces to make a proper counterattack, instead of not having that. It will be a long, slow, painful slog through a wizard's meat-grinder, and it will suck so, so much. Sivetrys tries to be something of an optimist, but especially with the foreign adventuring party already being on their last legs: people will probably die. People will probably be killed, have their bodies reanimated, their souls poorly reattached, and they will be forced to experience fighting the people they care about, in a horrible undying prison of their own rotting corpse.

It is not clear that they could win, if they did things the hard way. The odds are, quite frankly, not great.

Or, they could do this the easier way (which is very different from easy, to be clear) and rip the Forbiddance down, skirt around the Teleport Trap, and Dimension Door directly on top of the lich to kill him. They would not have to deal with the majority of his traps. They would not have to deal with the majority of his forces. He will not have much, ideally any, time to buff and prepare. They will still be in an enclosed underground space with a fucking demilich. It will still not be fun, it will still absolutely suck a bunch, and some of them might still die, but: the odds are much, much better.

They do not have a scroll of Greater Dispel Magic. Tristian could prepare the spell, but Tristian did not prepare the spell, because they were not expecting to go fight a demilich today. They have to, anyway, because the seal on this fucking lich has been broken (by someone else!), and now he is about to gain access to Teleport, and therefore become much, much harder to track down and kill. He would also become much more of an active threat to Sivetrys and her party in particular, because they live within easy teleportation distance of this place, and he knows that they exist. Probably he wants to add even more powerful adventurers to his collection. They could run, but that would be abandoning everyone and everything she's built for the past several years of her life. Every single person she's ever helped: at this lich's mercy. Every bridge she's had built: used for this lich's purposes.

She needs to not let that happen. She needs to keep her people, her party, safe. She needs to minimize risks and play this smart and there are people that need her to do this and so she needs it too.

There is one spell she wants. One. She knows the basic sketches of what it looks like, because she has the little baby Dispel Magic, at third circle. It's just - that, but more, but better, more powerful, more thorough. Probably it came first, and got carefully pruned to being smaller and tidier.

She needs it now, not tomorrow, not the day after. Right now. Or people will die. She needs it like she needs to breathe.

Sivetrys reaches out with fingers that are not there and thinks about how much she really, really, really needs this, and...

... she feels the edges of something that she could maybe cast.

Ha.

Okay. Okay. She stops there, much as she hungers to cast the damn spell right now. Casting the damn spell right now would not be smart, and she's being smart. Timing is very very important, and Vordakai will almost certainly notice her wrecking his shit, so she will wait until her party is ready to pounce. But.

Yesyesyesyesyesyes~!

"Pep talk went well, I presume?" says Jubilost mildly, when she returns.

"I can do it," she says, firmly, smiling a smile that is oh so very sharp.

Jubilost nods evenly, as if he expected nothing less.

"Good, maybe we won't all die horribly. Then I propose two teams brought by Dimension Door; one by Linzi, one by our pep-talking baroness. That would be three with each, which means we are leaving the dog behind." Also, Zan, but: they do not want to be taking her directly into a lich's lair anyway. "Unless you think you can bring a fourth?"

This is directed at Sivetrys.

"... I might with a person, but with the size of Okbo..."

"Leaving the dog in the yard it is, then."

It is very fortunate that Ekundayo still doesn't speak Celestial, because he is often very irritated by his wolf being called a dog.

(This is somewhat funny, because he used to call his wolf a dog, and has since gotten very attached.)

Seems like they're getting going?

 Luto looks at Umakhi (deep in a book again), sighs, and does the pair of tongue-clicks Ridaya came up with for getting their alchemist's attention without startling her. (Then she winces.)

She closes her book and pockets it, pushing herself upright with her wings with surprising grace. "Minute buffs?" 

"Dimension Door team distribution, then minute buffs. Close range and far range groups, I think."

"Neither Linzi nor I should really be in melee range of a demilich," says Sivetrys, dryly. "I'll drop the rock on him from above?"

"By all means, volunteer to get close to the soul eating abomination."

She flaps her wings and makes a questioning noise.

"Hm? Yes?"

It is truly a show of impressive self control that he doesn't say, 'I don't speak in hum, use your words,' but Jubilost is in fact attempting to be nice. Or at least not start a pointless fight five minutes before they fight the demilich. One of those.

Something in Umakhi snaps, a bit.

She trades her usual whisper for a more normal volume, which makes it clear how ragged her throat must be - speaking through it sounds painful. It's unpleasant to listen to.

 "Put me in that group. I fly, am best at mid-range, can hit hard, for a bit. And maybe... put the silence on a tanglefoot bag... So he can't just knock it away."

(She's distantly aware that she's being difficult. It doesn't feel like a choice she's making - it feels like a fact she knows. The sky is blue, teleport is a fifth circle wizard spell, undead are harmed by positive energy and have no endurance, and Umakhi is being difficult right now. That's just how things are.)

Augh.

Softly, in Tianji: "Umakhi, you don't need to push yourself, I can-" 

Irritated wing-twitch.

-she shuts up.

"There's no need to be -"

Sivetrys clears her throat.

Sigh.

"Silence on a tanglefoot bag, and you can be the one to throw it at him from above, yes," agrees Jubilost. "Then also the cat, and our new martial companion as the other group members?"

"It will involve either getting a Fly or a bit of a drop from above. I have a wand of Fly, though, so. Very doable."

She totally made the wand herself. Fly is just such a useful spell to sometimes need to cast twenty of on a bunch of different people in one day! Obviously it's wand material!!

(Its profit margins are not as high as wands of Endure Elements or Grease, of course, but diversifying her stock is important for economic stability. Also it's boring to literally only make one type of wand for months on end. Ask her how she knows.)

-nod.

"I don't mind a bit of a fall, actually." She clicks her boots of the cat together. "Maybe I can land on the fucker¹."

¹: the word she actually uses here is a curseword for undead and similar, in Celestial, and more literally translates to 'abomination', but the vibes are much closer to "the fucker"

"Okay. Then I'll take you both, and Bergamot, and you and he can flank together. I think we're now okay to start minute buffs?"

They are of course also going to be plotting their precise, moment-to-moment strategy in advance while buffing, probably right up until the Forbiddance comes down and they all Dimension Door in, but. Yes, okay, this is enough for them to start buffing while they strategize.

Tristian is very quiet for all of this, for all that he understands the planning.

(Which is a little odd, actually, she would have expected him to be translating for Linzi and Ekundayo, but: she supposes he's nervous about the demilich. Or possibly kicking himself for preparing the wrong spells today. One of those. She can step in and translate for the members of the party that don't speak the language of the upper planes...)

Umakhi drinks one of her extracts and shrinks to about half her size, and then drinks another, a shield springing into place around her. She whistles and tosses a second shield to Luto.

Then she inquires (at her usual whisper) as to whether Jubilost has any Alchemical Allocations going spare - she's basically out, and wants to put bear's endurance and owl's wisdom to herself and Luto without consuming the potions they have for it (though it's probably worth the potions, even if he doesn't).

(Luto catches the infusion without looking up and drinks the entire thing in 1 practiced motion.)

"No, but we should have some spares going, well, spare." Since. Alchemist. Who makes potions and will throw money at this to not die.

(Good Hope is usually a pleasant spell to be under, and settles over everyone nicely. As long as it doesn't cause anyone to burst into tears. Hope is scary, okay, Linzi would really like for that to not happen again.)

augh - she - 

Ridaya - 

(her tiny hands ball into trembling fists)

Luto gently runs a hand through Umakhi's wings. It'll be okay. We'll get through this.

Yikes. Sorry. She's got more buffs to cast, and the benefits outweigh the emotional effects, but. Sorry!

Tristian shivers a little at the hope, but is otherwise stiffly efficient about his own provided buffs.

Ekundayo is methodically laying buffs over his own bow, with a practiced ease of someone who is very accustomed to hunting. The balm for his arrows will be among the last he does, but dipping arrowheads in goop is not a complicated process.

And Sivetrys stuffs personal buffs, usually meant for protecting delicate casters, onto herself, and then also her incredibly deadly cat, who is not delicate in the slightest.

And also gives everybody in the group fire resistance, because, well. That's just obvious. Who goes into a fight without at least fire resistance up?

This is a very buff heavy party, to the point that margins of this narration do not contain all that they stuff on themselves. Coming up with two spare Death Wards for their impromptu members was a little tight, but they're no longer including Okbo in their buffs, and are willing to throw money at their problems to maybe not die, so. Perfectly doable.

She applies the oil to her sword, and then she's ready.

She hasn't stopped shaking, but she's got her three round-duration extracts ready to drink. She's ready.

They divide themselves into their Dimension Door groups, and relocate to just outside of the Forbiddance boundary.

Then: round buffs.

Including a very important Arcane Concordance, specifically to help Sivi rip this place's defenses apart. And a silent bard performance, little shining words of encouragement swirling around her companions.

(Along with Haste, obviously.)

Bomber's Eye. Targeted Bomb Admixture. Channel Vigor (mind).

And she needs to do this, like she needs to breathe, because otherwise these buffs will be wasted -

Casting the spell isn't the only thing. She still has to wrestle the thing she's dispelling into submission, which she's not guaranteed to win.

Greater Dispel Magic.

It comes down.

Right then - step into where the Forbiddance was, which is outside of the Teleport Trap's snare, because it would be a waste of materials to overlap the snare with a Forbiddance, yes they checked, and -

Dimension Door.

Dimension Door.

~Playtime~

Every piece of her body hurts, hurts, hurts, hurts. (but it's not her body anymore, is it.)

Every inch of skin feels like it's being frozen off.

Every fiber of muscle feels like it's been torn in half.

Every fragment of bone feels like it's been shattered in place.

Every length of nerve feels like it's laced with horrible lightning. 

Even the parts of her that don't have pain receptors hurt, which, Ridaya thinks distantly, is because what she's feeling isn't physical pain, but the horrible arcane chains that have bound her soul to her corpse.

It's an abstractly fascinating thing about necromancy, really, the way it incidentally tortures the soul. Uma did some reading, and then pulled Ridaya in to help her with the spellwork, trying to sketch out the parameters for a version of animate dead or create undead that didn't also leave the target in constant pain. The fucked up thing they found was that it's not a hard problem, exactly. All magic that manipulates the soul directly is necromantic, so Fahyan's theorem doesn't apply - you can tack on a numbing layer without making the topology more complicated. But unlike the rest of the spellform, the numbing isn't topologically closed, so it would wear off over time, and need to be reapplied with a separate spell, and that spell would still consume onyx. Possibly someone in the history of Golarion has ever fully written out these variants, and cast them, but they're impractical.

(...Also, this kind of necromancy is evil, and the kinds of people who use it consider the horrible torture it causes the soul a perk.)

A thing she's noticing is that the magic that did this to her is a bit different, from those spellforms she studied with Uma. She's no expert in necromancy (far from it, really, despite the theoretical work she's done), but she thinks it's older magic. That would fit, given the circumstances. 

The main difference she's noticing is that it keeps hurting her in ways she's not expecting.

It hurts her if she tries to zone out - a pulse of agony that says no. be present; pay attention.

It hurts her if she tries to think too hard - a spasm of hurt that says no. your mind is not yours to use. 

It hurts her if she tries to direct her eyes - a burning lash that says no. you are not in control.

And it hurts her when her enslaver gives her orders, because she's been robbed of her will, more savagely and completely than any enchantment ever could. She's just here to watch the horror show. (She still strains against it, when he commands her, from something approximating reflex - but each time it hurts, because of course it hurts. Her existence is pain and horror and it will be pain and horror forever unless her family can free her somehow.)

Her mouth continues to speak. "...and those safeties have to borrow spellforms from some mid-tier divinations, right? But since this is a conjuration spell, and Fahyan's theorem (...which you would know by a different name, Master, but the principle is the same) tells us that inter-school spellform weaving inherently takes more power to stabilize even if the individual effects involved don't take more power, which is why the spell we now call Greater Teleport is seventh circle." (aaaaaaa)

While her mouth explains the important advancements in the art of arcane magic to Vordakai, her hand is scribing spells from her spellbook to his. (aaaaaaaaa)

"But the actual useful work that Teleport does, if you cut out that entire chunk of safety, and move some other things around - that fits into fifth circle, if you replace the targeting mechanism with something simple enough. It is really limited, to the point where there's a decent chance of failure, and gets worse the less familiar the caster is with the destination, and it limits the distance somewhat, but obviously none of that matters in the face of having access to Teleport at fifth circle. The failure chances..." (aaaaaaaaaaaaa)

When adventuring parties of high circle run an operation, it tends to be a very fast affair. Everything important is often over within a minute.

So it really cannot be overstated how much begins happening all at once.

Silence falls. She's still being forced to talk, of course, but now there's no sound coming out.

Her wings flare open. She throws the tanglefoot bag (misses the stupid tiny demilich; it lands on the floor next to him), and then she's mixing a bomb, and then she looks, 

Time seems to stand still.

Ridaya, right there, but - not dominated - undead

and - the thing using her body and and binding her soul has her magic, is already starting to move - 30 feet of teleporting is enough to get the demilich out of the silence - 

It's obvious, what Umakhi needs to do. She doesn't have a choice, not really, not if she to survive the next several moments, not if she wants to ever see Ridaya in this life or the next.

She doesn't hesitate. She throws the first bomb, is already mixing the second, loading it, throwing it, right at the person she loves more than anything, because - because there's no other choice.

(The noise is overwhelming. It hurts her ears. It hurts her throat.)

The first bomb is indescribably painful.

(The silence is a small mercy. It means she doesn't hear Uma scream.)

The second one brings a perfect stillness that she'd never ever thought she'd crave, before today.

Thank you, she thinks, as she fades away.

Others can still hear Umakhi scream, though there's not much that can be done about it.

But those that hop into the area of Silence are blissfully unaware.

A large carnivorous leopard, silver-grey with black spots, leaps upon Vordakai like he's the greatest cat toy in the world, and gets to mauling.

She's falling and she sees Ridaya, but she looks wrong, and then she hears the screaming and then she sees Ridaya explode, twice, and then she's in the silence and the noise stops and she's hit the ground - 

And then she enters the flow of battle and there's no space in her brain for anything but the perfect duet of her and her sword. Nobody to bodyguard. (Ridaya-) Just a stupid floating skull to put in the ground. 

She stabs it three times in under 2 seconds, clinically, mechanically, perfectly. Twice, she shoves her katana through that stupid shocked eye socket and feels it connect with the bone on the opposite side.

And there is a something there, helping her blade find purchase, even through silence. Technically, the performance started just before the Dimension Door, tiny lines of the written word flowing from one rather small bard, to her allies' arms. Little words of encouragement, of stand fast, you're not alone, of we can do this, of we will make him pay. Of one little word in Celestial, one of the few she knows, Here to help.

And there are more bombs, all with the same precise aim Umakhi had, all just as fast, none of which need to be directed to a mercy killing. His bombs do not deal positive energy damage, but they burn all the same, and there are an awful lot of them.

Striking a tiny demilich through his damage resistance with mere arrows involves hitting the same spot, over and over, with every single arrow, one after the other. 'Hammer the gap,' is the term for it, and it's usually used in reference to melee, but Ekundayo kills monsters. This looks like a monster to him. His aim is true.

(Technically speaking, though, the feat he's actually using is Clustered Shots.)

There's a reason Tristian has been so withdrawn.

He did not prepare Spellcrash this morning.

It's kind of funny, actually, because he's a terrible liar. His allies know this about him, but they still haven't pushed for the truth. Or possibly haven't realized that 'lying' is what he's been doing; attributed his awkwardness or terrible decisions to nerves, or something. He's not sure why, they've absolutely noticed that something is off with him, in regards to this. The trust they have in him, probably, not that he deserves it.

There was an extra buff, in the series of them that he made earlier. Not one of their normal ones, and entirely personal. He's sure someone noticed him cast it, but nobody questioned him about it. They have a lot of buffs, in this party, and he'd said he had something to get past the demilich's spell resistance, so they probably made the (admittedly correct) assumption that it was in relation to that. And they hadn't seen it before. They made no mention of the spell components he burned, or how the holy symbol he used was more extravagant than his normally more modest one.

He's really not sure why nobody said anything.

The spell he cast, about two and a half minutes ago now, is called Invoke Deity, and he is not using it as he's supposed to. Usually, it's meant to invoke the grace of one's deity to strengthen oneself, in set, safe, predictable ways. That is the proper way to use it. The way that leaves a mortal cleric fully intact. It is not a bad buff, exactly, but it wouldn't really be notable in comparison to everything else they already have available to them. Not really worth using a sixth circle spell slot for, especially in this party. It's also not what he needs.

What Tristian needs is a miracle.

Not for Vordakai, exactly. He actually does trust his companions' ability to kill it, and even mostly make it out intact afterwards. Vordakai is not one of the really dangerous liches, and Tristian has more experience with them than he's let on. He is no Iomedean, carefully allocating his goddess's attention for Her, but he is perfectly aware that the material plane doesn't really need Her intervention in this matter. No, what he needs help with is what Vordakai holds.

Vordakai, great cyclops demilich, devoted follower of Charon, was gifted an artifact by his master. The Oculus of Abaddon, it is called, and it allows for the domination of minds, the raising of sapient undead, and can be used to find things past even great defensive spells like Mind Blank. A great and terrible artifact of Evil, that Tristian is bound by his geas to deliver into the hands of someone who has committed many great evils. Who will almost certainly commit many more.

He cannot break free from his binding, but he can destroy the thing he's bound to deliver. There was nothing in the geas that said he had to deliver it intact.

"O Righteous Sarenrae," he says softly, and he reaches towards the upper planes in a way only someone from them knows how. "Use me as Your instrument to destroy the artifact of Evil before me. Burn out this creature's eye with Your power and wrath."

There's a great golden light that takes Vordakai by the artifact he replaced his eye with. It burns like the sun, and the artifact cracks and shatters under the strain.

(Vordakai is stunned for one round!)

But invoking a deity's power on the Material is not done lightly, and Tristian does not make it out unscathed. Eye for an eye, is the ancient adage, and this is worth two.

His own eyes bubble and burst from the strain of blinding evil, and now it's not just Umakhi that's screaming.

Some detached part of Umakhi processes what Tristian has done, but it doesn't seem like it matters very much, really. The demilich is still there. 

(Her throat is so raw that the noise coming from it now is barely louder then a normal voice. This doesn't seem like it matters much, either. It certainly doesn't seem like it's stopping.)

She mixes and throws three more bombs at the horrible abomination that's torn her family apart. She's almost out of explosives, but it's almost out of time. And she's not the only one here to destroy it. 

"Tristian, what the actual -" begins Linzi, horrified.

"Later," snaps Jubilost, because there's still a lich to kill.

He is, of course, doing his (explosive) part in making that happen.

Did someone ask for five more arrows loosed in six seconds, all aimed at a horrible abomination that has torn families apart? Because Ekundayo still kills monsters, and this one isn't dead yet.

Man. Playtime is almost over and he barely got to do any mauling at all. Terrible. Awful. This cat is being oppressed.

Was this in the tactical briefing? did she miss it??

Doesn't matter. The lich is cleary disrupted, and badly hurt. The gestalt entity that is Luto and her katana just needs to destroy it. 

She stabs it through its single eyehole, then pulls back, and in a beautiful twirling strike, 

She punctures it clean through, the bone shattering as the magic holding it together breaks all at once. 

And then it's over.

The whole affair was under twelve seconds.

Now the yelling can start.

"Tristian what did you do! Where are we even going to get a Regenerate for your eyes that you exploded yourself for some reason!"

Tristian has by this point stopped screaming. Tracts of blood leak down his face like tears.

"Wouldn't work," he says, flatly. This is not the kind of injury that will be regenerated. "I need the shards of the artifact that was in his eye."

??? To... finish destroying it?? Make sure it can't be put back together?? Tristian was obviously planning this in particular, it makes everything make sense, and yet Sivetrys is still confused. She's clearly missing something, but doesn't know what.

She distantly notes that her screaming has subsided into loud sobbing (which is still painful). She frantically searches the ground, looking for Ridaya's body, headless of everything else around her, 

Which turns out to be unwise, when flying in a cramped area. 

She crashes into a wall she hadn't noticed she was approaching, and tumbles out of the sky, still sobbing. 

Ack, okay, more immediate emergency!!!! Sivetrys is a sorceress, which does not say any good things about her upper body strength, but Umakhi is currently very small, so. She can at least move to catch her and keep the fall from being nasty.

(Linzi at this point realizes she should dismiss the Silence, and does so.)

"What do you mean it wouldn't work! What did you do???"

"Destroyed its eye. Seemed to stun it," says Ekundayo, picking through the pieces of the lich to retrieve bits of broken eye-gem-thing for the cleric. "Not part of the plan, but cannot discount effectiveness. Next time, warn us."

This earns a slightly unhinged laugh from Tristian. Why do they still trust him!!!!

The sound coming back breaks her out of her battle trance. There's a lot of voices she doesn't understand, but she hears Umakhi sobbing, which gets her full attention, and sees her falling out of the air, Sivetrys not quite strong enough to keep her upright. 

She drops her sword, does a running jump into a bounce off the wall, and grabs ahold of Uma, cradling her in both arms as she lands in a perfect crouch. "Hey, hey, it's over, it's over, we did it, you did it,  I've got you now, it's over, take a deep breath," 

she's almost crying, too, but Uma needs her. 

(She clings desperately to Luto, sobbing and hyperventilating, too miserable for words, her mind showing her bombs blowing Ridaya apart again and again and again,)

Oh good, someone with a positive strength modifier is helping now, that is much preferable to failing to keep her in the air.

She - leaves them to comfort each other, not because she doesn't care, but because she does. Ekundayo seems to have the 'get the artifact to their cleric' part of things handled, so Sivetrys will - handle the body. Not Vordakai's, fuck him, they have about a week to make sure that asshole is permanently dead, but -

The other body. The one that has been blown to pieces.

She very carefully and very neatly gets to wrapping what was once Ridaya up, in a spare blanket sourced from her Bag of Holding.

"Bergamot, guard," she says, as she does this. "Linzi, Jubilost, can you both check for ambient magical effects, traps, and the like?"

Mannnnnn. Fine. Guard, yes, yes, he'll patrol around hoping for something to properly pounce on...

"Already was, thank you," sniffs Jubilost.

"But -" begins Linzi, but. Yeah. They are in a lich's lair, aren't they, there are probably things that can still horribly kill them all available. Sigh.

Luto is doing her level best to get Uma's breathing under control and not let the panicked misery take root in her own mind. She holds her dear alchemist tight. "Uma, Uma, it's going to be okay, we'll get them all back, I've got you, I love you so much, I'm so so sorry,"

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa, the loudest part of her mind replies.

But other parts of her are clinging desperately to Luto's words, trying as hard as she can to believe them, and still others are busy trying to pull together some semblance of functionality, figure out what she needs to be doing next - the demilich might be gone and Ridaya's soul might be freed, but there'll be more, there's always more, 

Ekundayo finishes picking up the last of the artifact shards, steps back to Tristian, and deliberately closes the cleric's shaking hands around them.

"What else is needed for destroying it?" he asks, entirely business.

Stop it stop it stop it, he wants desperately to scream, but he can't. He can't.

"... You should step back," he murmurs hoarsely instead. She's going to know he did this. He's going to suffer for it, but he doesn't particularly care. What he cares about is how they will not have their sixth-circle cleric, and there is so much still to be set right -

Shortly after Ekundayo does as asked, a great portal appears in the air, and swallows Tristian whole.

"Was that a fucking Gate," hisses Sivetrys, in the great echoing silence that he leaves.

The sheer pressure of ninth circle magic sends a shockwave through her brain, and in its wake a different part of her psyche is in control.

"It was," she whispers, and she lets go of Luto, wriggling her wings impatiently - she wants a better look - 

"he's... an outsider? that was... a calling Gate."

(She loosens her grip automatically, a worried pit forming in her stomach, but she's not sure what to say and holding Uma down seems like a terrible idea)

"That..." begins Sivetrys, but she's having trouble speaking words. Is that possible??? An outsider??? Tristian??? But... but...

"Did someone just steal our cleric!" shrieks Linzi, heedless of the people speaking in Celestial.

"This will make the resurrections very inconvenient," observes Ekundayo. He has an arrow knocked, because that is what he does when he is surprised, he prepares to shoot things. There doesn't seem to be anything he can fire arrows at to fix this, though. "- We should fall back to a more defensible position."

She shakes her head. "Need to find Vakt first." She peers around.

...wait, where's Ridaya? She looks over to where she remembers seeing the pieces of her body, alarm building,

Sivetrys sees what Umakhi is looking for, and her social circuits stop finding errors in favor of assisting.

"I've got Ridaya. All parts of her neatly tucked away, right here, ready for a Resurrection when we can." There is in fact a Ridaya sized bundle, neatly packed away for easy transport. The blanket holding her body is even blue. This was entirely by accident, but in retrospect seems appropriate.

But Ekundayo is onto something, with that whole 'defensible position' thing.

"I'll - cast us a Rope Trick," says a still somewhat stunned Sivetrys, first in Taldane, and then more firmly in Celestial. Not that it would help with a fucking Gate, but, actually hiding in an extra-dimensional space still sounds really smart right now!!!!! "Can you look for Vakt's body -" This is directed at her party. Normally she'd tidily delegate to a specific party member, but thinking through who would be best at that sounds hard.

She does actually keep a rope easily retrievable on her person, for just this purpose. The exact minimum length required, and no more. Usually she'd fly up to put it somewhere higher, but actually ferrying everyone into a flying Rope Trick sounds like it is in fact too much for right now. Lots of things are too much for right now. Someone kidnapped Tristian??? Who was an outsider??? They don't have their cleric, and they have two dead and one Feebleminded and, gods, Zan is still up top with Okbo, who is admittedly very large and soft and a good guard dog, but she still doesn't like leaving a vulnerable person all alone up there...

"Already found it," says Jubilost, who was on watch for traps-and-things. "Seems the lich saved us some work digging her out."

He is of course also efficiently wrapping her up for transport. It's only practical.

...Luto rushes over to help him with that (she doesn't want Uma to have to do this, not now,)

She slumps when she see's Ridaya's remains in a bag, but that gets tucked away, everything not relevant gets tucked away, there's more to do and more to figure out and she has to keep going, keep going, keep going,

A Rope Trick isn't going to do much if against someone who can cast Gate... unless it was off a scroll and they only had the one. (Ridaya can cast nineth circle scrolls, though it's only come up once, (her body explodes as the second bomb hits it, the look on her face never changing)). It's a reasonable precaution, but,

"...can we get Zan?" 

Rope Trick.

"... Linzi, are you able to get Van and Okbo?"

"I.... think so, yeah, I didn't end up casting much really - we're not all going to fit in the Rope Trick though -"

"Our animals can guard below." The Rope Trick is lower to the ground than he'd like, this seems both practical and an appropriate allocation of resources...

"Okay. Uh. Going, then."

Dimension Door.

...Nothing left to do out here. Wait, no, that's not quite true.

Umakhi grabs Ridaya's spellbook from where it's sitting at the table, and swipes the other spellbook, too. Nothing else on the desk seems immediately relevant. 

She flies up and through the extraplanar hole into the Rope Trick, ignoring the rope completely, and disappears.

Luto carefully takes Vakt's body, and heads over to where the rope is dangling. (...she's not actually sure she can do this. She's not especially strong, and Vakt, in her armor, is heavy. But... she's not sure what else to do...)

Here is Ekundayo, singular member of this party with a positive strength modifier. This is a problem he can solve.

Okay. Okay. Things seem to be settling. Probably her job is going to be to sleep, because they're kind of all stuck down here until she Teleports them back to civilization. Hopefully civilization that contains a... sixth circle cleric. Because they are now missing theirs, and people are still dead.

Sivetrys carefully scoops the bits of demilich into a bag, because leaving your defeated but not permanently killed enemy in pieces on the floor is what stupid people do, and her hand stops on one little gemstone. The only one, among the ten scattered around, that is filled.

".... Hi, Varn," she says softly, to the bauble. "We'll get you out of there, don't worry. We're going to fix all of this."

Then she pockets the gem, finishes sweeping the last of the demilich into the bag, and flies up to join Umakhi in the Rope Trick.

Umakhi is hunched up in a corner, carefully examining an ancient-looking spellbook, trying to figure out what the traps on it are and how to disable them. (She's already gotten two obvious ones. She's sure there are more. But she's careful, and she's good at this, and some of the buffs are helping out, and it is something to do that is not thinking about -) oooh, that's really clever, she hadn't realized you could do that...

Luto starts to thank Ekundayo, remembers he's one of the ones who doesn't speak Celestial, and bows her head gratefully instead. She retrieves and sheaths her katana, and shimmies up the rope.

Ekundayo nods evenly. He'll get Ridaya's body up as well, and assist with Van if they have any trouble shepherding her.

Dimension Door.

Linzi is back, with one great big wolf, and one addled oracle.

"So do we have, like, a plan or something, because...?"

"Let the sorceress sleep," says Ekundayo, dry. Which means: no chattering.

But so much has happened and they should talk about literally any of it!!!!!

"Later," repeats Jubilost, before heading up the rope himself.

Zan is perfectly capable of climbing a rope, when Luto leans out to beckon her on up. 

Luto pulls her into a sitting hug, arms wrapped around her tightly. "We did it, Zan," she whispers. "The lich is gone, we have their bodies, we'll get them all back,"

(...huh, when did she start crying...)

Hug. Gentle back-rubbing.

(Umakhi looks up momentarily when Zan enters the Rope Trick, and does a visual scan to confirm that Vakt and Ridaya's (the flashback is getting familiar, but no less painful) remains are accounted for, then goes back to attempting to dismantle the traps on the demilich's spellbook.

No she doesn't.

"Best to wait until we're all at our best," he says softly, with a level of gentleness that some might find surprising. "Anyway, how did you manage to stuff positive energy into a bomb...?"

(Sivetrys curls up in an available corner with a bedroll and gets to attempting to sleep. She's not very tired, is the thing, and it's weird to fall asleep without Bergamot to cuddle, and sure the Ring of Sustenance means she only needs two hours of sleep, but that's two unbroken hours of sleep, and -)

Sleep doesn't usually work on her, because half-elf, and also she's circled past being normally affected by it, but on a willing subject, it can still work just fine.

Good night, Sivi.

Sleep.

Zzzz thanks, Linzzzzz...

...oh, he's right, she's being stupid. (again. :( )

She carefully shuts the book and puts it aside. 

"Holy bombs..." she whispers, withdrawing a notebook from one of her many pockets, flipping to a page and showing it to him.

The annotations are mostly in Tianji, and she'll translate, if asked, but alchemists the world over use very similar notation for equations, and some of the notes are in Celestial, since it has better words for the relevant concepts.

The point was almost entirely to give her something to focus on that was something resembling healthy, but yes, Jubilost is also actually curious about the specifics of Uma's alchemical concoctions.

Everyone else also settles down, and hope nothing from Vordakai's tomb comes to bother them while they have their emergency rest.

Well. Most of them, anyway.

Back on guard duty. Again. Sigh.

Being a Bergamot is suffering.

She gets bored of sharing alchemy notes pretty abruptly and gets out her magic crafting supplies. She can do that quietly.

She's halfway through making a medium-strength Headband of Vast Intelligence, for Ridaya. In many ways, it's very weird to be making the improved headband for the wizard last, but - Ridaya insisted. She wanted Umakhi to make one for herself first and then the upgraded items for the other three, since Ridaya had gotten the very first lesser headband Umakhi had made, when they were younger and Umakhi was just learning the art. (Ridaya is sentimental about these things. She's got a tiny pouch full of the consumed remains of several single-use things Umakhi made for her, way back when.)

(A tear falls on the headband, from somewhere. Then another.)

She works silently, teasing the magic into the spellsilver, teasing the spellsilver into the headband.

Luto watches Uma work, watches her tears fall onto the headband, and - doesn't say anything or reach out, because Uma wouldn't want her to. It's hard, though.

She sighs, leaning into Zan. She's not tired, not really, just full of nervous energy. 

...is there anyone else awake who might want to interact somehow? She glances around the extradimensional space.

Ekundayo is watching out of the exit hole of the Rope Trick, in a state that looks moderately restful, but also fully prepared to pincushion anything vaguely undead on the other side of that hole at literally any time.

He's clearly fine.

Jubilost has decided that since he's not needed for distracting other alchemists from doing unwise things, he will do alchemy. He's rather lacking in materials, but he does keep some things on hand, and it's better than sitting on his hands waiting for the Bleaching to end him.

(Sivetrys is asleep.)

Linzi is looking really stressed out right now, though. She's writing in a book and muttering to herself.

There is still that whole 'language barrier' thing, which may or may not be a problem.

...Oh, she's really not doing ok, huh. And she's not talking to her friends about it...

Luto tries to catch Linzi's attention without making too much noise, and when she does, cocks her head and beckons. Want to come over here?

...?? her??

Sure, um, she can scoot over to join Luto, even though... they still don't have any languages in common. Oh sweet Shelyn is she being propositioned, she has no idea how to handle that at all, no, no, almost certainly not, she's overthinking things.

She does give a little slightly distracted wave. And then fidgets with her pen.

Luto smiles, then... hmmm. Maybe they can teach eachother their languages via charades, but that sounds like an entire process.

Instead she hugs the air in front of her, points at Linzi, then tilts her head. Do you want a hug?

??????????

...

......

Sure okay?