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Permalink Mark Unread

- she barely has time to meet his eyes before she hits the ground.

There's a discontinuity in time, and then - her chest hurts - she's lying down - can she breathe, one breath, another -

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She's in motion, on a - stretcher? It's swaying. There are voices in the background, speaking an unfamiliar language, agitated. 

 

The stretcher is set down. Someone is scolding someone else.

 

Someone casts a Cure Moderate Wounds.

 

It doesn't help.

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"Rúmil?" she murmurs. What is this, Valarin - can she pick up what people are saying if she listens a bit to their minds, just a touch -

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- not an ordinary injury - 

- demons this close to the city -

- someone should get Terendelev -

 

 

And another mind is approaching. The person is in human form, but her mind is obviously that of a dragon; the dragon is not interested in being mindread thankyouverymuch.

 

The dragon casts a Greater Restoration.

 

That does, in fact, make the horrific pain in her chest stop.

 

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She wasn't reading anyone's minds more than she needed to get the words they were saying right in front of her, even heinously injured she had THAT down, but that is by far the most utterly legit choice a dragon has ever made of which she is aware, possibly over and above healing her awful chest injury! She heaves an enormous lungful of air - twice, actually, chest injuries are awful for breathing - and blinks a few times and says "thank you".

In Pax. Since, uh, that's a dragon. Pax is pretty widely spoken, probably a dragon will know it.

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The dragon doesn't seem to know it. She looks quite surprised by this. 

The other people are still talking. "- city crawling with cultists. What's your business here?"

"I don't think she understands you, Prelate," says the dragon (while Bella cannot directly understand the dragon it's easy enough to parse what everyone else thinks the dragon is saying.)

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I can, mostly, just - not by listening - where am I?

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"This is the city of Kenabres, on the Sellen."

"You were found outside the city, badly injured. Some guards carried you in."

"Do you know how you were injured?" asks the dragon. "It was no ordinary injury, and even my magic only eased the wound's grip on you, I did not cure it."

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I don't remember being hurt. I don't remember anything since I was in - - that is a dragon, and therefore Valinor is an infohazard. - well, nowhere near Kenabres or the Sellen, what, uh, continent is this.

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"Avistan."

"In distant places I've heard the continent called Kelliten," says the dragon, "or Taixi, or Folanji, or Swerovan."

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I... don't recognize any of those names.

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" - we're at the Worldwound," someone else says, "heard of that?"

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No and it sounds memorable.

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A bit of a tired laugh. "It is."

"This is a demonic plot, perhaps to distract us while Baphomet's cultists infiltrate the city," someone grumbles. 

"Then perhaps wisdom calls for you to return to your work, Prelate," says the dragon, "and this young woman and I will work out what happened to her. I do not think she is a demon."

"There's more demons with telepathy than wizards who have it up even when found bleeding out in a field," observes the Prelate.

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I'm - the telepathy isn't a spell. I was born with it. It's not too rare among humans where I'm from.

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"- it is extraordinarily rare here," the dragon says. "I've heard of it only thirdhand, rumors of rumors. If you'll forgive my curiosity, are you fully human?"

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Uh, as far as I know, and I did grow up knowing both my parents.

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The Prelate strides off, glaring back at them frustratedly. There are, by this point, quite a few more people gathered around curiously, eating fried food and staring; there's a crowded town square visible in the direction the Prelate is striding. 

"Today is the day of a festival," the silver dragon says, "the anniversary of the founding of our city. I would speak with you more, and more closely inspect your strange magical injury, but my presence is necessary so that the townspeople can celebrate unafraid, this close to the Worldwound. Do you see the temple of Iomedae, across the town square?" She points it out. The holy symbol emblazoned on the front of the building is a shining sword. "If you come there tomorrow, we can speak further."

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Uh, understood, thank you. Apparently this is one of the dragons that just adopts a town, that's one of the better kinds except for how Embries was one that adopted a university, so.

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The dragon strides off, still in human form. One of the other people nearby - a woman in plate armor, the same sword-based holy symbol on her chest - offers Bella a hand standing up. 

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Does she contain the ability to stand. - does she wear on her feet the ability to - okay, yes, she has everything she was wearing, boots included, possibly they're broken but she's not going to cast a Detect about it - she takes the hand, she stands up. Adjusts her weight to check for wobbles and finds the boots in working order. Surprising.

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It's a city. A poorer city than most in Bella's original home, and a much uglier city than any in Valinor. The streets are paved, but aging, and the buildings mostly have thatch roofs. The town square is full of revelers - children playing party games, drunk people singing.

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Welp.

She will - uh - take off and pocket most of her jewelry, first thing, and then go looking for someplace she could sell it.

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There's a jeweler's shop, presently locked up.

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Well, heck. Is that because it's getting on nighttime or unrelated.

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Probably because of the festival! The other shops look similarly locked up.

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Well, hopefully the festival won't go on too long. She spirals out from the jewelry shop, checking to see where she might be able to spend the night or buy food.

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There's an inn. There are some street vendors mostly serving the festival clientele right now. There are some bed-and-breakfasts.

 

That person over there is a demon in disguise. That one too. Also that other one. Also now that she's thinking about it several of the people who were nearby right when she regained consciousness.

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OKAY she is going to whisk herself real REAL fast into that temple and hope it is not a demon temple.

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Normal temple! To the shining-sword god! They have a statue of her in the middle of the room, a woman in armor with a heavy shield and a sword. 

 

There are side shrines to lots of other gods that one might want to venerate and that are presumably on good terms with Shining Sword god. There's a young woman in a priestess's vestment at the back. "Can I help you?"

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Hello, uh, my entire everything is a super long story but I can tell when people are demons and spotted some outside, are you who I tell?

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"Hells. Yes. I'll go get Hulrun, can you come with me? Will you be able to tell again if you see them again?"

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Yes and yes I will but I do not expect to be of the slightest use in a fight with any.

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"That's what we'll get Hulrun for, he's a fourth-circle inquisitor of Iomedae." She's grabbing a cold iron sword herself, too. "Are you detecting Evil or are you doing some other thing?"

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Part of the telepathy package, not too uncommon where I'm from. I can identify people as individuals and by species sort of like recognizing faces except it works through walls and illusions and stuff. It's super super not safe to do anything telepathic with demons, if I'd been trying to talk to one like I am with you I would be having a problem right now.

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"Oh are you a psion? I thought those weren't a real thing." Out the front steps of the temple and back into the town square. 

....where kind of a lot of these people are actually demons in disguise. Ten of them, a dozen of them, a dozen more over here -

 

"Where's Hulrun?" she demands of the nearest paladin -

 

 

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IOMEDAE!!!!!!! booms a rasping, grinding, terrible voice that stuns half of those who hear it in their tracks. BEHOLD THE DEATH I SOW!!!!

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- is Bella stunned in her tracks or can she run for the hills.

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She can run!!!!

 

 

Until a chasm opens up beneath her!! Then she can fall.

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She screams about that! And fights the temptation to fly! Broken legs are survivable!!!!

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Honestly this underground tunnel which was just abruptly renovated to have a skylight is probably a better place to be than the aboveground right now, what with how aboveground there's presumably a fight ongoing between some demons and an ancient silver dragon. This underground tunnel just has Bella, and up ahead a couple of other people who fell through and are still moving.

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Has she broken anything?

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Seems like somehow no! Must be her lucky day!

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Are the other people demons?

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Nope! Distinctly human, both of them!

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Then she'll shuffle over to them.

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The armored woman who helped her to her feet earlier is trying to improvise a splint for the other woman, who did break a leg in the fall. "- oh good," she says, "the more we can find the better. Do you have anything that'll do for ropes or leather straps? Where are my manners - I'm Seelah. Paladin of Iomedae."

"Anevia," says the woman with the broken leg. 

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She has an arcane healing spell that'll do even up to missing body parts.

No she doesn't. She has this nice embroidered sash. She unties it. "Bella."

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Seelah takes it. "Well, welcome to Kenabres, Bella, I wish it could've showed you a bit of a friendlier face - did anyone see what happened."

"Deskari," says Anevia. "In person."

 

"Inheritor preserve us all."

"I am sure She's trying."

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Who is Deskari?

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"He's a demon lord," Anevia says, while Seelah ties the splint. "The Lord of Locusts. - Terendelev is dead. She'd have had about as much chance against him as I'd have against her."

"He won't dare spend long on the Material," says Seelah. "He's probably already gone. We've just got to drive the lesser demons out, keep people safe."

 

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There were a lot of those. - I can tell them apart from everybody else, though I can't do much else about them, I'd gone into the temple to offer to do this, the person there was looking for somebody called Hulrun when - it happened.

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"You can tell them apart from everyone else? You mean with Detect Evil? A lot of the demons around here have ways to hide from that."

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No, it's a telepathy thing, none of them were bothering to hide from that - well, that I noticed, obviously. It's just an extra sense I can use to recognize people that doesn't get covered by the same kinds of illusions.

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"Oh, that's clever! That'll be really useful, when we're back up on the surface, one of the biggest problems we have is that demons like to disguise themselves as innocent people."

 

 

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"Right now I think we have kind of a lot of problems," Anevia says. "But by all means let's make for the surface. Do these tunnels lead there?"

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"I don't know, but staying here won't lead there, so I guess we'll try them."

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Bella can fly.

No she can't.

She'll follow Seelah and help Anevia move along with the broken leg.

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Then they'll come quickly to another survivor, standing over the mangled body of a dead elf.

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" - demons didn't do that."

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"There's all kinds of things down here. I tried to heal him, but too late."

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"You have healing?"

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"One left."

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"Well, hopefully it's not that far to the surface."

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It's an awfully discrete amount of healing to have left but - yeah, the emergency situation handily explains that. How can you tell it wasn't demons?

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They'd have stolen his stuff, and if they were in too much of a hurry for that they wouldn't have half-eaten him, and if they for some reason did the wound would be poisoned. 

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This is when they are encroached upon by an enormous man-eating centipede.

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Shit, that does not count as something she can knock out with telepathy at all. She hides behind Seelah. If it really, really does come down to life or death - okay no she will make a policy about life or death situations in a calm moment if she ever gets one, right now her policy is NO SCIENCEMAGIC.

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Seelah, being a paladin, is heavily armored and moderately competent to kill things with a sword and can handle the giant centipede, with some help from Camellia and with Anevia attempting to operate a longbow while leaning against a wall and not totally able to stand. 

 

She can also handle the next several giant centipedes, though she does say after the fourth one that she really hopes they're in fact headed towards the surface. 

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On that topic Bella cannot really reassure her and couldn't even if she were doing magic! She will instead operate as a crutch for Anevia and try to pay attention to the possible approach of enemies that are smarter than giant centipedes.

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After a while she'll notice some minds up ahead, of ordinary person intelligence, to the left of where they're plodding through territory that now also contains giant spiders and giant slugs (and normal-sized spiders and slugs, but those are less dangerous.)

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There's some people up that way. None of them are demons, though I don't know how good a recommendation that is down here.

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How many?

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Just two. Anything smarter than an animal that isn't a demon I can likely knock unconscious, if that matters here.

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- seems like a good option to have, though hopefully they're just some more survivors in the same straits as us. 

"Hello?" she calls, heading in that direction. 

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"Who are you? Stay where you are!"

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"I'm Seelah, a paladin of Iomedae! We were thrown into these tunnels when Deskari attacked and opened up a chasm."

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"Is that what caused the earthquake? There was a major one, about an hour ago. Collapsed some tunnels. Some people were saying it's a sign that we're not meant to be down here anymore."

       "Sure, Lann," says an impatient voice behind him, "tell the first outsiders you meet everything."

"They might be able to help!"

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Has it been a whole hour? What do you need?

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A bunch of people are missing. Either trapped when the tunnel collapsed, or - more likely - went into the shield maze, trying to get to the surface. I want to get the rest of the tribe to go after them, but - they're scared.

 

There's an angel's sword in this room. It's buried under rubble, right now, but in the hands of a righteous warrior it's very powerful. I wanted to - see if I could get it to work for me. It never has before, but - we never needed it to save a bunch of people before, and angels should care about that sort of thing, right?

...anyway, step one is just finding the sword, because that half of the room was buried in the earthquake, and then I guess we can see if anyone can wield it.

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I'm not sure how the sword will help if you normally live down here and can cope with the other things that live down here already, does it - solve mazes?

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The shield maze has more dangerous things in it than the tunnels do. Demons, I suspect, though most who go in don't come out so I don't know for sure. 

 

It also might help when we get to the surface. They don't - like mongrels, on the surface. 

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Indeed, Camellia is pursing her lips and looking vaguely appalled.

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Is there no more straightforward way to the surface than through the maze?

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Not without powerful magic. 

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Bella looks at Seelah, who is probably a decent candidate to wield an angelic sword if Lann can't do it this time (how many times is he planning to try the same thing with slight variations anyway?). Seems plausible the most efficient way out is to help them with the rubble and see if you or Lann can activate the sword.

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"Happy to help," says Seelah, and they can start hauling rubble. She'll take the big pieces if everyone else takes the small ones. 

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Yup. Moving rubble is not hubristic or scientific at all and Bella can do plenty of it.

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And then her hands will brush across something colder to the touch than the surrounding rock, and - her chest hurts, again, at the site of the injury Terendelev healed, it feels like blood is dripping down her shirt -

-- and there are memories here that are not her own, of being cornered in this cave, dying, frightened and furiously angry. And then the memories overwhelm her senses and there's nothing but chittering insects, filling her vision, crawling over her to devour her -

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IT IS SCREAMING TIME AGAIN

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" - Bella? Bella are you okay?" No more insects, no more dying, no more bleeding wound. The sword Bella touched is glowing blazingly bright. 

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she is NOT touching that sword any more

she is patting herself down to see if the injury reopened

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Nope, she's fine.

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It - did something to me - how sure are we it is a, uh, a good sword.

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" - well, an angel wielded it. I'm pretty sure angels are always good."

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"Something could've happened to it since then, though." Seelah frowns at the sword. "It's not Evil."

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Well, it gave me some kind of very unpleasant vision when I touched it but, uh, maybe it only does that to psions or something.

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Seelah considers, but not for very long. "I'm going to touch it. It didn't cause you lasting harm."

 

It doesn't cause Seelah lasting harm but it also doesn't light up blazingly bright for her. It's just a perfectly nice sword.

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Is it supposed to do something dramatic if it's working? I used to have a magic dagger but it wasn't flashy.

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"I was kind of hoping it would light up like it did for you. It could be it's still magic, though, I don't actually know a lot about magic."

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"I think it's supposed to light up like it did for her."

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Even if it's the most helpful sword ever forged I don't think I can swing it if it's incapacitating me at the time!

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"Did you hear that?" Seelah says sternly to the magic sword. "That was bad. If you are trying to be helpful you must not do that. Bella isn't an angel, so you need to use your - not-angel rules, if you have those.

Want to try it again?"

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I think if it were a person I would have been able to notice, so, no, I doubt enormously that that helped and I do not want to try it again but I guess it didn't kill me the first time.

She pokes the sword very gingerly.

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The sword does not send any terrible visions this time! It just glows! And...maybe gives everyone a tiny bit of supernatural protection, as a very small apology. 

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"That definitely did something."

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Okay. I will hold the sword until it does something else horrible and I will see if it holds up okay against giant spiders and stuff like that in spite of the fact that I got a B in Basic Knife.

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"I think the light's doing a little bit of - soothing and strengthening us - all by itself," says Seelah encouragingly, apparently not hurt by the unwillingness of the sword to function for the paladin who actually knows how to fight with a sword.  

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"With this, we can go into the Shield Maze and save the missing children."

       "Lann, that's still a terrible idea," says the other mongrel.

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Bella does not have enough context to have strategic opinions on the viability of this plan! She gives the sword a couple experimental swings.

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It's probably helping her at least a little bit relative to her baseline ability to swing a sword. It has not made her a master swordsman overnight but probably someone who'd get an A in Basic Knife.

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"I can take you all to the mongrel camp. Then we can show them the light, and make plans for the Shield Maze."

 

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What-all's in there? What is a shield maze, anyway?

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It's a huge old fortress. I don't think it was a maze originally, but it is now, the route through it to the surface is very hard to find. 

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Okay. I don't have a better idea.

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"We press on, then, I suppose! Lead the way, Lann."

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There are more giant vermin. Lann and his companion, who is still glaring daggers at everybody, can shoot most of them before they get close. "Earthquake scared them all up out of their burrows," Lann says after shooting a giant centipede off the ceiling before it can drop on his head (it still does drop on his head, but it's dead when it does.) "Things aren't usually quite this bad."

 

         "It is madness to take the tribe through the Maze," Wenduag says. 

"There's safety in numbers. And Lariel's sword is a sign that it's time."

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Bella experiments with swording the ALREADY DEAD vermin on the way to get a feel for how hard she needs to swing to get it through carapaces and out again. She has no comment on how mad it is to take the tribe through the maze.

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It's been probably another hour, and a lot more dead things, by the time they reach the underground bog in which rises the underground island where Lann's tribe is camped. Those persons without supernatural endurance are fairly tired. 

Lann and Wenduag run up to argue with their tribe's leadership. 

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"What a deeply unpleasant place," Camellia says as soon as they're out of earshot.

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"Oh, it's not too bad. I'll take a roof over my head even if it's made of stone and smells of rot. - we should probably not attempt the Shield Maze tonight." She's looking worriedly at Anevia, who has been doing a steadily worse job of hiding that she's in pain. 

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"I don't know how much good one night of sleep is going to do me. I suppose more than none."

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Bella's not used to being tired in quite this way, anymore, with no treelight, no timeslide necklace she can take off to sleep so that nothing seems urgent and any insomniac anxiety she's picked up will melt away. She has nothing against resting but is also having a hard time imagining it will help.

If we're going to sleep here and I'm not going to need my subtle arts - uh, psionics - stamina to talk much more or do anything else, I can soothe the pain, probably long enough for you to get to sleep if not much longer past that?

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A weak grin. "That'd be neat."

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"Bella shouldn't run down the last of her powers for it but I actually want to talk a little bit more! If we all know what each other can do, we'll be able to help each other out more. And it's easier to fight with friends than strangers."

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"Optimistic of you to assume that on speaking more we'll become friends."

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"What, are you secretly a demon? I get along with most folks who aren't."

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"How very Good of you."

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"Are we doing introductions? I'm Anevia. I'm an archer, a better one when I have two working legs. My wife and I moved to Kenabres about three years back. We'd done some adventuring, figured it was time to -" snort - "retire."

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I'm Bella. Where I'm from psions aren't too uncommon and we often train to be therapists; I was in school for that before I was, uh, interrupted by an interplanar transport accident. That's basically true whichever way you look at it, right? So most of my skills aren't combat-relevant but I can knock people unconscious - unless they're demons, not safe to do anything to those - and talk to people telepathically and notice them through barriers and illusions and stuff.

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"That'll be astoundingly useful, if we make it out of here alive."

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"The Inquisition will adore you."

 

Her tone is very slightly mocking and both Anevia and Seelah make a little bit of a face.

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" - anyway. I'm Seelah. I'm a paladin of Iomedae, and I defend the Kenabres Worldwound barrier, when I'm not stuck underground."

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Is the Worldwound where all the demons are coming from? There were a really weird number of them up there.

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" - oh right, you're from really really far away. So a hundred years ago, some terrible person tore a fifty-mile-wide rift to the Abyss open, and any demons who wanted to come through can, so of course lots of them did, and did horrible things as they're demons. And the forces of Good had to find a way to stop them, so they came up with the Wardstones, which have a powerful effect like a Forbiddance against demons, stops most of them crossing through and even the strong ones are weakened when they make it through. There's more than a hundred wardstones, in forts in a ring around the rift. And we patrol the barrier, and try to catch demons sneaking through so we can kill them while they're weakened. But some do sneak through, especially ones that can make themselves invisible and so on, those are hard to catch with patrols, so there's a lot more demons around here than most places."

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Yikes!

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"It's not great! And Kenabres was pretty safe, because it had Terendelev, but things are probably going to be pretty tough, now."

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Lann comes back. "Chief Sull says the tribe can go into the maze at dawn. I worry that's too late."

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"I don't want to leave your kids in danger, but if it's going to be a tough set of fights, then - yeah, we should take it in the morning. I'll have healing, Camellia'll have healing -"

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"I can also prepare some spells in the morning that might help us."

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"I guess. I just worry it'll be too late."

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"I know. But you get into a fight you're unprepared for, you die and fail to help anyone. - you missed our introductions. I'm Seelah, a paladin of Iomedae. This is Anevia and Bella and we hadn't gotten to Camellia yet so it was news to me she can apparently prepare spells! Are you a wizard?"

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"I am a shaman. The spirits of the land assist me. I was in Kenabres for the festival."

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"And I'm Lann. The uplanders call us mongrels. We're descended from the heroes of the First Crusade, who fought alongside the angels."

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Do you have an endonym?

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" - we call ourselves neathers. But it's not a big deal, it doesn't really matter what people call us."

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I'm used to it mattering a lot so I thought I'd ask.

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I just don't want to get upset about stuff that isn't going to change.

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"Right, Lann, do the mongrels mind if we spend the night here? And do you have anything we can sleep on, I completely forgot to pack my camping gear."

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If we're done having conversations I need to understand and participate in, we should set up Anevia somewhere I can help her sleep.

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Lann can get them set up in the tent of someone who is presently out. It'll be crowded, and the bedding is fungus, but it's warm and dry and Anevia will look considerably better as soon as she's no longer upright. 

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Do you want me to address the pain first or just try to put you to sleep directly?

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"Honestly the pain's not too bad if I don't move. I just, like a fool, moved. A lot." Sigh. "I doubt the pain will wake me if you put me directly to sleep."

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Okay. Say when?

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"Now's good."

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Sleep.

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Then Bella will have some temporary privacy; Camellia is looking for better accommodations and Seelah and Lann are out front discussing the available forces for tomorrow's adventure.

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Privacy, but no paper.

She will lie down in the same room as Anevia and knock herself out.

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When she wakes up, Lann is frying them some rats. Seelah is praying. Camellia's in some kind of trance. Anevia is redoing her splint, teeth gritted.

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"Morning. - should we not talk to you, so you can save your powers for the Maze?"

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Talking isn't very expensive, and psionics won't be any good against centipedes and demons, just nondemon person-type enemies.

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Well, hopefully we don't run into any of those. Fighting demons beats fighting people, any day. 

 

How're you doing?

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Not good but this is actually mostly because of my interplanar travel accident than anything acutely going on.

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That's pretty understandable! - for what it's worth, with the ability to detect demons, you can easily make the money for a Plane Shift or two. If we don't die.

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That's good to hear. She can see her parents again. A very small consolation, but any of one.

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"Bella! Anevia! How are you feeling, are you ready to go?"

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"I'm not going to get more ready," says Anevia grimly. 

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Same, unless there's breakfast to be had.

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"Lann fried some rats for us!"

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She is not excited about eating rats but she's about to do a lot of tromping and possibly swordfighting so she'd better eat. Rat.

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It contains calories and tastes about as unappetizing as you'd expect. Camellia does not eat. No one else complains; what would be the point? 

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And then they can get going. Lann knows the way into the fortress, though he's never been very far into it. His friend Wenduag, he says, has, but Wenduag is nowhere to be found. They tromp. There's ruined furniture and ruined artwork and doors rotting on their frames which Seelah can kick open -

 

- and then, noticeable to Bella before anyone else, there are person-not-demon minds, not human but only the way Lann's not human, four or five of them in a room up ahead.

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People over there, I think neathers but I'm not familiar enough with the local species to be positive.

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"Maybe the missing ones?" Lann heads ahead a little faster, which means that he rather than Seelah is in the lead when the neathers - they are, in fact, neathers - run at him with glazed eyes and supernatural strength and blood dripping from their teeth. 

 

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THAT doesn't look right and they should all fall down unconscious now.

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"Wow, nice," says Seelah, who had been preparing to stab. 

 

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" - I know these people. Something's wrong with them."

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"Oh, I thought maybe that was just what mongrels are like in the morning before they've had their rat breakfast."

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"What are you, twelve? Knock it out."

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"How long are they going to be unconscious, Bella -"

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I don't know, it depends on them - I can wake them up, but by themselves it could be minutes or hours.

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" - then I propose we leave them and keep going. We can get help if we make it out."

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"I just don't understand what happened." 

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"These are the kids who went missing yesterday?"

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"No. Months ago. We figured something ate them. - let's just keep going."

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I can try to find out but - not something I would usually do on strangers, might be dangerous to me too, and would probably take more time than we want to spend here.

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I'll come back for them.

 

 

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There are some more in the next room.

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Bella warns the party again. And she has enough stamina to knock down another bunch, but she's running pretty low after that.

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"WIll a lunch break help you any, or is a full night of sleep kind of deal?"

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It doesn't strictly have to be sleep, I passively recharge all the time, but I'd need a couple hours not doing anything more intense than talking and not too much of that before I could take out another party that size. I don't want to kill them, though, what if they're fixable? And I'm not good enough with a sword to take them down nonlethally unless it's enchanted for that, which I haven't had the impression any of us know!

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"If we wait a couple hours the ones we left behind us will wake up, though. - I don't actually think angels usually carry Merciful swords, if it's enchanted past a little bit of swordsmanship I'd expect it to be Holy or something, but you can take a swing at me if you want to check."

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If you're sure you'll be able to tell? She hefts the sword and gives Seelah a poorly-calibrated swat on the arm.

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It cuts her. "Pretty sure that's not Merciful, yeah. We could try to rush them and beat them unconscious but I think we should expect if we do that we'll kill some."

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"They're rabid beasts."

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If you got rabies - or whatever the heck they have - I wouldn't want to kill you over it either.

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Camellia looks genuinely puzzled by this. 

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"I can try to take them down alive. I just want everyone clear that this will still kill them some of the time."

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"Can't paladins do Merciful weapons, if we're making all this fuss?"

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"Fancy paladins can. Yours truly doesn't even have the immunity to fear and disease yet, I'm worried about getting into melee with these guys because they might bite me. I don't think sitting here for hours is the best plan, though. Time for the demons to learn we're here and plan their own ambush."

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I assume there are no resurrections in the offing - Lann, how many people went missing in the first place?

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"Over the last six months we've had six people go missing, not counting the four kids last night. But I haven't recognized all of these people, just a couple of them. The rest must be from other tribes."

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The Church can only afford resurrections for great heroes who'll go on to save many more lives. Costs as much as outfitting a whole patrol with magic weapons so they don't die in the first place.

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About how many other tribes are there - if we guess your tribe lost a normal number -

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"Four tribes I've heard of."

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So, you lost ten, we've seen nearly that many, there are probably ballpark forty total but we might not run into every bunch of them and we might run into some of them only after enough tromping around that I can put down one or two... Seelah, will you be more able to avoid killing them if there are fewer in a group?

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"I'd expect so, yeah."

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Okay. So as long as they don't come too thick and fast I'll try to thin out the group and let you focus on taking down the rest. Probably the best we're going to do unless Camellia has a useful spell she's willing to lend.

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Camellia is pouting. "I have spells for grace and strength for warriors, not for getting mongrels their beauty sleep."

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Okay, so nothing from Camellia. And maybe the layout is such that we can avoid some groups altogether, I'll keep a mind out.

Onward.

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They can get a long way without killing people. Seelah is not very experienced at using her sword without intent to kill someone but if it's one on one she can generally manage it, and if they're careful about their positioning and Bella's using her magic to thin the enemies out it's usually one on one. Camellia takes up the rear. There is definitely no way to nonlethally shoot someone full of arrows, so Lann preserves his fire for -

- the demons, because yes, there are also demons. Dretches are supposed to be the weakest kind of demon, but they're fast moving, can make the air sickening and hard to see through, and take less damage. Seelah has to smite the second one because it's clawed her half to death, and after that heals herself but with a grimace. "I wanted to save the smite for something worse than a dretch."

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Well, maybe that'll be the worst thing we run into today, says Bella with a feigned optimism that is not well supported by the way she's rearranging a scarf to filter the air for her. She does NOT know what she's doing with the sword but can at least hold it and stand in front of the people with range in case something gets past Seelah to take a swipe at the rest of them.

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Humans up ahead.

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Humans, Bella reports. If they are super lucky that means it's the surface!

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No, it just means these humans are demon-summoners in the middle of a demon summoning ritual!

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Well, fuck that. She can't knock them unconscious but she can make them all smell sights and hear proprioception, that's cheap. Quick, don't know how long that'll confuse them -

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Seelah kills them. 

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Camellia helps!!!! 

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There's a locked door at the end of the room. Seelah turns back to the humans to search them for a key or something. "We've got to be close to the surface, if there's cultists down here -"

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Bella can search dead cultists for keys.

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Key. 

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And does it go to the door? (And is anyone behind the door?)

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Big demon!! Some smaller demons! Some neathers!

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There are demons through this door, FYI, and a handful of neathers. Is there like anywhere else they could go from here.

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The basement?

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Well, that doesn't sound likely to be better. She'll give Seelah the key and take up her position holding a sword in front of the ranged and vulnerable.

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It's a towering demon, six armed, fourteen feet tall, wreathed in black flames, cackling madly as it induces the terrified neathers to consume the flesh of a captured angel, the whole deal. It turns, contemptuously, to look at them, and Seelah tries to stab it even though she is very obviously and very ludicrously outclassed because it's not like there's some alternative that looks less doomed -

 

 

- and Bella's chest bursts open and starts bleeding, again, but this time the bizarre ripples of memory and sensation that accompany the chest wound are - under her control, mostly, more like watching a TV show that happens to be in her brain than like being inside one - and the power that's surging through her doesn't want to attack her, it wants to help, if she can only direct it -

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WELL CAN IT ATTACK THE DEMON THEN??

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SURE!!!!!!! HOLY FIRE DEMON BLAST!!!!

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She doesn't kill it, but she terrifies it, which is nearly as good, because it Teleports out, and then it's just a matter of taking down its much, much, weaker minions. 

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- she'll kill minions now, ask questions later.

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Can it do more holy fire blasts??

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Okay, apparently that's a once per day thing. Is she still bleeding.

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Yeah she's kind of lightheaded and there's definitely some blood soaking through the front of her shirt. 

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Then she's going to stand back with Everybody But Seelah and try to catch her breath.

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Camellia will totally be on the front lines whenever they're not insisting on nonlethal force. 

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The minions die under a hail of arrows and some stabbing, and Lann rushes over to the mongrel children who, predictably, are starting to go monstrous and rabid from the angel-eating ritual. 

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" - you need healing, Bella?"

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Might not work. This - thing - isn't normal. Save it for later.

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"If you say so."

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"I think we're near the surface. I hear running water, and smell something that's not cave air."

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"Well, that's not nothing. Bella, take a protective amulet I got off one of the minions, you very obviously have the worst ratio of offense to difficulty-of-injuring. Can psions wear armor?"

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I've never tried it but it won't interfere with doing psionics.

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"I'll keep an eye out for something that makes you a bit harder to impale but won't interfere too much with walking if you're not used to it."

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"Bella, do you know what's wrong with them? The mongrel kids? The ritual - did we interrupt it? Or are they going to turn out like the other ones?"

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I don't know, I'm sorry, if I were going to poke and prod them I'd be looking at their own memories and it looks like what they remember is being forcefed an angel. Is the angel super dead.

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Yes. 

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Poor angel.

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No one is having a particularly great day. Or week. 

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"Shall we press on?"

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Guess so.

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Anevia was right to think she'd heard running water. There was a canal adjoining the great room where the demon conducted its rituals, and a stairwell on one side of it, and at the top of that - Kenabres.

 

It's - as Bella can tell from a distance - full of demons. And humans and orcs and tieflings and so on, of course, but lots of demons. 

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Well, there's tons of demons up there, but hopefully we can get backup once we're up the stairs.

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"The city's defenders will surely still be fighting," says Seelah, and plunges ahead. " - uh, want to point me in a direction where we'll find mortals rather than demons, or at worst a mix of both?"

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Up the stairs and hang a left and it's solidly eighty percent there far as I can detect.

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Off they go.

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It's not only eighty percent, but rising; there's fighting and the mortals are winning it. At the center of them is a half-orc, paladin, same god as Seelah, stabbing things very viciously. She glances at them very briefly, just long enough to evaluate them as 'not more demons', and doesn't glance back until the room is all mortals no demons. 

 

Then -

 

"Gods. I thought -"

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And Anevia limps across the room to fling herself into orc paladin lady's arms. "Yeah. I, uh, got a little lucky, made a couple friends.

 

 

Uh, these are - Bella, Seelah, Lann, Camellia."

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Hi. Do you want this magic sword? I am not a sword person.

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- half-orc paladin looks questioningly at one of the people behind her, who steps forwards to study the sword. 

        "....to the best of my ability to detect anything at all, that's just a completely normal sword," he says.

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"Nah it was glowy and let Bella smite a demon with holy power or something," Anevia says, still clinging. 

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Also it aggravated my mysterious and possibly cursed chest injury when it did that so I'm not sure it's good for me to hold onto it.

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"I am worried it's a demonic plot of some kind," the woman says tiredly, "no offense intended. - I'm Irabeth Tirabade, commander of the Eagle Watch. Why doesn't someone wrap up the sword for now and put it in a bag and we can look at it more closely back at headquarters - we've gathered the survivors to the Defender's Heart. If you all are combat-capable, though, this is the building with the wardstone and we need to clear it out and secure it."

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"I've been not completely useless sitting in the back with a longbow -" 

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"You have a broken leg. Alina can take you and any civilians to the Heart."

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I'm running on fumes psionics-wise but I'm - walking wounded? Not sure if you need me, you seemed to be able to find the demons on your own.

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"She can tell where demons are even when they've concealed themselves from ordinary divination because she's a psion."

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"That's extremely useful and much less so for this specific fight than it will be everywhere else in the city, why don't you head back to the Heart and let us know if any demons have already infiltrated it and then we can plan from there once we've retaken the garrison." Irabeth gives her wife a quick kiss on the forehead. "Onwards, crusaders. Iomedae is with us!"

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"Good to know she's not secretly a demon," Anevia says fondly. 

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Was that a concern on your mind? Bella asks, resuming helping Anevia walk.

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Oh, I'm not worried about whether the woman I married is a demon, but whether the thing going around with her face is - yeah, it's the kind of thing you want to worry about.  The previous commander of the Eagle Watch was a cultist of Baphomet posing as a paladin, had successfully fooled nearly everyone. 

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That sounds like it ought to be very hard to pull off but I will, uh, be alert to it. I'm not up on the local, uh, religions?

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- huh. I mean, I figured you wouldn't know Iomedae since She's a Starstone god, but I guess I imagined the ancient gods would be the same in other worlds. I guess even if they are the same gods they probably don't have the same names. Baphomet's a demon lord most famous for irritating Asmodeus, getting eternally trapped in a maze, and then making it his divine realm and walking off to the Abyss with it?

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I guess it's possible we have these under different names where I grew up but the story does not in fact sound familiar to me.

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I guess the Abyss is supposed to be infinite and we mostly only know of the demon lords who bother causing trouble here. 

 

There's an invisible demon observing them from midair, on the left.

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Don't look right at it but there is an invisible demon about ten feet our left, is it worth engaging before we get where we're going?

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...probably not. It's worth stopping it from getting into the Heart but if it doesn't try that it doesn't seem worth the risk it's stronger than us.

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So they will BLITHELY IGNORE THE INVISIBLE DEMON en route.

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The major gods around here are Abadar - banks, trade, cities - Iomedae - war, where it's not stupid or Evil - Gorum - war, no such restrictions - Torag, dwarf god of honor - Pharasma - birth and death - Sarenrae - healing and redemption - and Erastil - farm and family.

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Huh. Biggest names where I'm from were a god of, like, humans and their salvation, and a nature god? Plus lots of less popular ones.

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- we had a god of humans but He died, caused all kinds of problems. There's a nature god, Gozreh. Probably His worship is big in some places but Mendev's at war with the Abyss so we are inclined towards gods with an interest in that.

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Our god of humans also died - he did some thing about incarnating as a human and then dying and then coming back as a god for some reason that never made sense to me.

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Huh. If ours is doing that He hasn't gotten to the part where He came back yet. But He died a hundred years ago and that's when the Worldwound opened and a ton of other terrible stuff happened and now the world sucks. I don't know all that much about it, honestly. Irabeth's Iomedae's and She really seems like by far the most reasonable god, if you must pick one.

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And must you?

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Hmmm? No. Mendev bans some faiths but doesn't require any.

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Oh, that's a relief, I need more than the one sentence blurb to really get to know a god.

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I have never really seen the appeal myself, outside the case where they're giving you powers. 

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They're the best game in town for that at home, too, if what you want is healing. Physical healing.

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Healing and clean water and the ability to smite demons. Paladins are pretty much invaluable at the border. 

 

The Defender's Heart is a two story building, an inn and tavern with a courtyard, a tall wall, and anxious archers posted on all the roofs. It's densely packed with resting soldiers and frightened civilians. People recognize Anevia, and only side-eye Bella a little. 

Only three of the civilians sheltering inside are secretly demons!

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Three demons in here.

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Thank you. Point them out to me and I'll tell Irabeth's people?

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That one - that one - and that one there - and maybe have them go after them out one at a time so the other two don't know they're made?

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Yeah, we'll try to draw them away from the civilians with some excuse and then ambush them in a meeting room or something, one at a time. Do you have a sense of how dangerous they are?

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No, I can't read them more closely or they'll fry my brain.

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Understood. We'll handle it. And she goes off to talk to some people.

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Bella is going to find somewhere to sit down. Her boots are very comfortable but she has been tromping a lot.

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There's not enough space for all the people sheltering here to sleep at once but there's space to sit. There are children crying, and slightly older children playing, and slightly-older-than-that children looking after the little ones, and injured people, and elderly people. Not all that many able-bodied adults, aside from the guards Anevia is now talking to.

There's a bar serving stew and bread and beer and - clothes? Trinkets? Maybe it's just a general purpose store right now. 

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Are they charging?

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Not for food, yes for everything else.

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She'll take some bread and stew, then, and then go see if there are any immediate child complaints she can address.

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This child is scared of demons!

This child is scared of that bigger child who shoved him.

This child is sad because his daddy died.

This child is sad because his daddy is away fighting and might die.

This child is sad because she wants an apple and no one will give her an apple.

This child is sad because he was promised cake at the festival and then not given cake.

This child is sad because his daddy is a cultist and was executed in front of him.

This child is sad because he lost a TOOTH and when he told his mother she just burst into tears instead of praising him.

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Well. She can congratulate the one who lost a tooth on this achievement, and let the one who is scared of the bigger kid sit near her in case that's deterring.

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Anevia's people manufacture an excuse about identification of bodies and call some people over one by one, including the three demons; Bella can't see from here what happens after that but Anevia looks more relaxed, when Bella next sees her. 

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And a while after that some people carry in the remnants of the Garrison assault, most of them in pretty poor shape. The wardstone fortress is held by extremely powerful demons, apparently, and was not retakable. There were survivors only because demons are not very strategic and did not bother much with pursuit.

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Is Seelah alive? Irabeth?

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Seelah's alive! There is a horrifying hole straight through the front of her armor that presumably until recently corresponded to a horrifying hole straight through her, but paladins are pretty tough.

 

Irabeth is dead. The Church might in her case be willing to pay to raise her; Anevia is arguing about it with a priest of a different god in the corner of the tavern.


"Bella!" says Seelah, exactly as cheerful and optimistic as she sounded this morning. "You made it here safely!"

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Yeah, and found three demons in here too, I think they got handled. Uh, is there backup coming to try again with the fortress...?

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"The Church'll send us backup unless somewhere else needs it even worse, but it's not rare for somewhere else to need it even worse, and I don't know for sure if anyone successfully got word out that we need backup. Irabeth had some plans if this failed, but -" Gesture at Irabeth's mangled corpse. "I guess we should ask Elin, the Eagle Watch second-in-command, where we're needed now. ...probably I should see if I can get the armor mended first, actually, or find any new armor in my size."

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I can come with you to talk to the Eagle Watch if you think I ought to whenever you're re-armored.

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"Sure, I'll catch you then." She smiles at her. "Hang in there, we aren't beat yet."

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Thanks.

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There's a little kid crying because a bigger kid pushed her, and another little kid crying because her daddy didn't come back with the others. There's someone drunkenly expounding on a unicorn-hunting adventure he went on, and someone else playing music, not very well.  Anevia stomps away from her conversation with the priest, not looking very happy, and then immediately gets distracted by breaking up a fight among some refugees, one of whom accuses another of stealing his coin purse. 

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Well, at least Anevia can stomp now. Bella occupies herself with the kids for lack of anything immediately pressing to occupy her. She can sing to them. Keeps a metaphorical eye out for demons.

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Seelah comes and finds her about half an hour later, wearing armor that's notably worse-fitted but does not have a giant hole in it. "Shall we go ask Elin where we can help out?"

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Sounds good. She pats a kid on the shoulder and gets up.

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Elin is a very tall very young man, kind of twitchy. "The main things we're trying to do right now are find survivors and bring them back here, and find a way into the Garrison that's not through the front door. There's supposedly a tunnel, but I don't know where its entrance is, or who would know. Before the attack, we were warned by this kooky old elf calling himself the Storyteller, and if he's still alive it'd be pretty bloody useful to talk to him again, now that we know he wasn't just kooky. 

- also, if you find any scrolls of Sending, or anyone who can cast it, we're out."

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"So we can't tell anyone we need help?"

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"We told them. When Deskari attacked, and again when the Wardstone was moved. I think we should figure we're on our own, but I'd try one more time, if we had the means. We can make use of scrolls of most everything else, too. -  Oh, you also have permission to bring supplies back to the Defender's Heart from any abandoned residence you run across. Irabeth wrote an emergency order for it, just note what you took from where and the Church'll try to compensate people later, if anyone survives."

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"I can read a bit but I can't so much write - Bella, can you write -"

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Uh, not in this language, but in mine yes.

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"That probably works, you can read it out to someone when we get back who can copy it out to our language. Elin, do you have anyone who can go with us? Bella's really useful and we should be trying really hard not to get her killed."

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Elin pinches his forehead between his fingers. "I don't really. - do psions do truth spells? There's a prisoner in the basement, an accused thief, who says he'll help if we let him out but I am assuming he's full of shit. If he's not you could take him, he's a bit of a wizard. I need Anevia here unless she manages to wheedle a diamond out of Rathimus so we can get Irabeth back. Count Arendae's got a substantial security staff, but you'd have to fight your way to his place and it's on the other side of the chasm Deskari opened."

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Not truth spells per se but if he wants to let me read him I can do that. - diamond?

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" - as the material component for a Raise Dead. Rathimus can cast the spell but he's a bloody Abadaran and won't give us a discount. A loan, yes, but I don't have the right to spend the Church's money like that."

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Bella rummages in her pocket. Rubies, agates - there, this ring has a diamond in the middle of all the garnets, it's a shame to wreck Mahtan's lovely setting but he would certainly understand, she pries the prongs apart and offers it.

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Elin blinks disbelievingly at her for a second, then breaks into a broad grin. " - wow. Right. Okay, if we can raise Irabeth then Anevia can probably go out with you, then you've got a paladin and an archer and maybe a bit of a wizard, we're not going to do better than that. Let's bring this to Rathimus, then."

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"Shall we go talk to the thief while they do the Raise?"

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Yeah. - please neither of you tell anyone about the jewelry, it's in my pockets to begin with so I won't look quite so lootable. Diamonds aren't valuable where I was but I didn't happen to be wearing many today - unless it's okay if they're other colors? can you ask the cleric?

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"I'll ask," Elin says. "- and of course. I won't say where we got it."

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Thanks. It's just it's such a long, complicated story - not really time to get into it anytime soon.

And off to meet the thief.

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"I'm an innocent man. I had nothing to do with it."

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So, that seems possible, and I can check. I don't want to pressure you to let me read your mind, but I don't actually have the authority to unilaterally let you out on my own recognizance, just recruit you if you read sincere.

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He blinks rapidly. "Can you say that again but less paladin-y."

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I can read minds. I'm not doing it right now. I don't like doing it without permission, and it's a lousy sort of permission that's done in exchange for things like not being in prison. However, that's all I am presently offering.

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Okay I may possibly have some of the stolen property but I still don't want to die here while the city's overrun by demons. It's not like the jewelry shop owner needs it anyway. I think Irabeth'll let me go with you if you tell her you want my help.

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Will you give back the stolen property?

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It's my grandfather's! It's mine by rights. And I don't even know if the jewelry store owner is still alive, and he sure doesn't need one more fancy thing in his store with a hundred of them!

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Well, do you need it?

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Yes! 

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To get you out of this cell with its return or for some more pressing reason?

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It's mine. It was my grandfather's. It's the only thing I have from my family. I couldn't just have it sit in a shop window for some rich guy.

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How'd it get there if it belonged to your family?

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I don't know! I hadn't seen it in years. It went missing - was stolen, probably - when I was just a kid. And then - there it is, in the window. Really I was just retrieving my own property.

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I can see the argument. I guess this isn't really the time to get into the weeds on that. You're serious about helping out with various post-demonic-invasion errands and want to let me read you about it?

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Yeah, I'll help you out. I'm not in the market for more enemies, and I haven't got anywhere to go. - my crew thinks I ratted them out about the jewelry shop heist. 

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Can you confirm very explicitly that it is okay if I check.

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- yes! I said okay!

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Thanks.

She checks.

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He has been assuming she was reading his mind this whole time! He isn't planning to run off at the first opportunity, entirely because there's no where to run off to and psions are scary!

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...I guess that's good enough for a temporary thing. Uh, I really wasn't reading your mind except to translate what you said, before.

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He does actually believe her because paladins are full of shit but not in the sense where they'll literally lie to you. He doesn't much care because it doesn't much matter except he'd have lied more if he had known he could get away with it.

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Let's get going. Can they let him out or do they have to wait for the guy.

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The guards figure that Bella and Seelah - presumably mostly Seelah - are allowed to be doing whatever they're doing even if it's letting out the thief. 

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"All right boss, what's the plan?" (he asks Bella, not Seelah).

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Looking for a back way in to the garrison, and/or for an elf called the Storyteller. - also to clarify I'm not a paladin, she is but we just met yesterday.

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"You talk like a paladin. I won't hold it against you so long as you're not arresting me."

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I am not and have never been a paladin, I just take using my mindreading powers responsibly really seriously.

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Which is such a paladin kind of thing to do but he isn't going to piss off his new boss by saying so. "You got it, boss."

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Any ideas where we should be going or who we should talk to?

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"Irabeth might have some ideas, if she's returned to the world of the living."

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"She was dead?"

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"Happens to the best of us. Iomedae died several times during the Shining Crusade."

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"Man, those would be some bragging rights."

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"...dying in the Shining Crusade?"

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"What? No! Killing Iomedae!"

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Anyway, we should swing by wherever they'll be bringing Irabeth back to life and ask.

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Irabeth looks only slightly the worse for the wear for having been ripped apart by demons. "Staunton - Staunton Vhane, over there in the corner - was leading the search for the Storyteller, he can update you on if they have any leads. I don't know of any secret way into the Garrison and there may not be one, the demons we encountered there were powerful enough it's plausible they just flew or Teleported. If there is a secret passage the people who'd know are the tiefling gangs that use the tunnels in that area for smuggling." She looks at Woljif. 

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"Now, now, just because I'm a tiefling doesn't mean I know anything about tiefling smuggling rings."

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"There's also money and supplies at my and Anevia's place, if you happen to be in that part of the city - it's just east of the northern bridge, where two streets meet at a diagonal."

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Can I get a mental image - okay, and we can grab things there?

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"You can grab things anywhere in the city for the defense of the city or for feeding and sheltering the survivors, just write it down so if we survive we can attempt restitution. But you can especially prioritize grabbing our things, there's a fair bit of gold and some scrolls Anevia knows how to use in there."

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Okay. Uh, anyone have paper?

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Irabeth does! Bella can have some paper.

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Oh good. Bella puts columns on it for things taken and where from and pockets it. It is not Screaming Paper, she will have to find Screaming Paper on her own time.

Over to Staunton Vhane. "Staunton Vhane?"

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Grouchy dwarf. "Come to spit in my face?"

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What? No, I came to ask you if you had any leads on the Storyteller.

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"Oh. Well, the next place we meant to check once we'd retaken the garrison was Blackwing Library, it's where he was last seen. I sent a team there, but they haven't come back."

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Oh. Great. Thank you. Where is the Blackwing Library?

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Kenabres is very much not the sort of city neatly laid out on a grid and some of the landmarks by which it is navigated are presently on fire but she can get directions to Blackwing Library. She'll have to go through Market Square, that's the place where the people responsible for civilian evacuation have built a bridge over the chasm and therefore the only way one can presently get between sides of the city. 

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Since she can't fly, yes, she certainly will have to go through Market Square.

Onward, intrepid followers.

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"Mage armor, boss?"

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Wouldn't turn you down.

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Mage armor! 

 

And they can venture out into the city. 

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They're attacked by demons almost immediately. A dretch like the one that gave Seelah such a hard time yesterday, though she's better prepared for it now and flings herself at it before it can fill the whole area with nauseating fog; a couple deformed hunchbacked clawed things found in the middle of ripping apart one of the city walls. Woljif is in addition to being a bit of a wizard quite proficient at stabbing things, and Anevia without a broken leg is much better than before at shooting them. 

 

And Bella can sense survivors; cowering in their cellars, looting their neighbors' houses, dragging a elf off down an alleyway over there...

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Bella stands there with the sword, waiting to see if it'll do the thing and kind of hoping it won't. She can't distinguish "looting" from "in their own homes", not usefully, but she can distinguish the elf from everybody else and makes a sharp turn, breaking into a jog.

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Then she will encounter (in the lead, but not by very much, because her team is aware she would ideally not be in the front line of any fights that start) three men dragging a badly scarred elf onto the steps of a fancy marble building, arguing all the way. 

     "I don't think this is going to work," one of them is saying to the others. 

            "It's our only chance! Iomedae, please accept this sacrifice as proof of our devotion!"

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Is... that a thing, Bella asks Seelah. It's not beyond the realm of possibility but if Iomedae is racist against elves or something it might conceivably not have come up.

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"No!!! That's very much not a thing - what - stop that immediately -"

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- the men look variously guilty and relieved. 

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"Who told you that Iomedae wants people sacrificed to Her? What kind of rock do you live under?"

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"They're scared," says the elf girl. "They don't know how to be safe, so they try things that don't work, but that aren't quite as frightening as being powerless. - oh, Woljif! Hi, Woljif!"

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Introduce us? Bella asks Woljif.

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"I don't know who she is."

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"We used to play together! We'd play castles, and dig up things that people can eat, and watch the grownups in the streets and make up stories about how they got all their stuff. But then Woljif and his friends started to throw rocks at me, so I had to stop playing with them."

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"It was a really long time ago."

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Ah. Well. Hello. I'm Bella, this is Seelah. You three, clear off - she adds, gesturing at the men. Quit trying to sacrifice people.

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They will scatter! 

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"I'm Ember."

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Nice to meet you, wish the circumstances were better. Uh, we've got stuff to do, you good to - find your way home or whatever you were doing before those guys accosted you?

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"Oh, I just kind of live - here." She gestures at the streets of Kenabres.

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"How about you follow along behind us, at the end of the day we're going back to the Defender's Heart and it's the safest place in the city but I'm not sure you'll be safe getting there on your own, we've run into some demons."

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"I can make demons go to sleep. Not all of the time, but sometimes they'll just go take a nap and stop hurting people, if I tell them to."

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"...you've got witchcraft?"

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Ember flinches. 

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" - not that there's anything wrong with that. The whole west wound is held by witches!"

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Anything I should know about witches, I've never met one? Bella asks Anevia and Seelah privately, and then to all of them, That's great, my stuff doesn't work on demons hardly at all, it would be awesome if you wanted to join us. I can point them out for you.

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Their magic tends to be weak but inexhaustible - it can only affect a target once, or maybe once a day, but it can hit people all day long. Ludicrously useful in the field, but witches are rare and more often than not Evil.

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Witches have - a patron, a source of their powers, some kind of powerful entity from another world. Some of those are friendly to mortal concerns, but lots...aren't. I am not detecting Evil, though.

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"I'm happy to help!" Ember says. A bird flutters down to land on her shoulder. "This is Crow, he'll help too! What are we helping with?"

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Hi Crow! We're trying to find an elf called the Storyteller - that's actually most of why we were even here in time to save you, I can tell species by psionics and distinguish individuals but have to look closer to find out things like whether they're attempting blood sacrifice - and also hoping to see if there's a back way into the garrison.

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"Well, I don't know anything about that, but I can go with you and make the demons fall asleep sometimes."

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This means they are next substantially impeded in their travels not by demons but by two humans having a very public argument. 

" - discuss this when the city's not overrun by demons."

"So you can smuggle them out? No. We'll discuss this now."

"Hulrun -"

"You're harboring criminals involved in the assault on our city, you'll hand them over, or I will kill you where you stand -" The man turns to glare at Bella and company. "And who are you -"

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Uh, I'm Bella, hello - someone was actually hoping to introduce us not long ago because I can distinguish demons from humans reliably but right now the six of us are on a more specific errand - are we interrupting?

(They're only six if you count Crow, but Bella does, he's a person.)

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Hulrun glares VERY SUSPICIOUSLY at them but relents somewhat in light of none of them being Evil, Anevia being someone he knows, Seelah being a paladin of his god, and Bella having just said something very interesting. (It is visible that this has only produced a slight decrease in his paranoia, and equally visible that the man is quite unwell; his skin is clammy and he looks on the brink of death in the way that high-level adventurers generally don't even when they're in fact on the brink of death.)

"You can distinguish demons from humans reliably?" he demands. "How?"

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I'm a psion. She doesn't care for the word but if people didn't even think psions were real last week then the terminological inside diamondball is certainly going to be lost on them. I can detect people, and distinguish individuals kind of like recognizing faces, and distinguish species the same way, but since I'm not using my eyes illusions don't trick me. Uh - are you okay?

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"Don't think that the demons have wounded me. I still have strength enough to destroy the city's enemies, whatever shape they take." Suspicious glare.

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"The angel's sword chose Bella, and she helped Anevia and I get out of the underground alive. I do not think she's a servant of Evil."

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"How often have you detected the city's enemies when they wear a fair face, hmmm? We are beset from all directions." He gestures frustratedly at the other man. "By traitors and heretics, as well."

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Normally I'd say heresy wasn't a priority but apparently Iomedae doesn't go in for blood sacrifice and some people were trying it anyway, so if that's what you mean by heresy, definitely an issue. Not one I am very qualified to help with, though. Uh, do you want to walk with us for a bit and I'll point you at the next few demons I spot?

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He will do this. Very grumpily. 

 

- and promptly spot some neathers and draw his sword with a growl. "Demonic beasts!"

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Uh, no, those are neathers?

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"They're obviously demonic beasts. I don't think your radar is very good if you can't see that."

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" - the mongrels came up from the underground with us to help defend Kenabres. They're not Evil."

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"Prelate, I think you're unwell and should head back to the Defender's Heart for Rathimus's help."

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"And I think this is a demonic plot," he hisses back at her, "to convince me to let my guard down."

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I agree with Anevia, you look like you need a Restoration or something. Alternately, around that corner there's a demon coming this way, it's all by itself, you could go kill it?

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Hulrun gives her a scathingly suspicious look. 

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"Prelate, you'll kill far more of our enemies if you're possessed with all of your strength."

 

A bona fide demon ambles around the corner, sees them all, and turns to run.

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Anevia will try to get a shot in as it flees but it'll probably flee successfully. "Sleep it," she tells Ember.

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"But it's running away!"

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"Yeah, to hurt other people who are softer targets -" And it's gone.

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Yeah, if it didn't want to hurt anyone it probably could have stayed home, Ember.

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"I think demons are sometimes very confused and don't know what they want," declares Ember, which gets Hulrun to glare at her. 

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"Do I know you?"

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"When my father and I arrived in Kenabres, you thought we were enemies of the city, so you burned us at the stake. I understand how it happened, and I forgive you. You were doing your best."

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Iomedae... goes in for burning people at the stake?

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No!!! 

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"The Third Crusade was an atrocity and a horrible mistake and I didn't in fact know until just now that it involved burning any children -"

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"It was a paladin of Iomedae who dragged me out of the flames, because he realized it was a mistake," Ember says. "Following a god isn't what makes us do the right thing, or the wrong one."

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I mean, yeah, but I'm from very far away and trying to orient to what things are individual actors doing things their god wouldn't countenance and which things are institutional. Uh, Hulrun, I reiterate that you seriously seem to need healing or something, if you aren't going to go after demons when I point them out then going and getting that handled is absolutely next.

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"We'll walk in front, if you're worried this is a demonic ambush attempt."

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"Of course this is a demonic ambush attempt," Hulrun says flatly. "I have been at this for more than forty years and everything strange or bizarre or hopeful or new is always a demonic ambush attempt. Or a distraction by traitors. What's more likely about your new psion friend: that psions actually exist after all, or that demons, which often have telepathy, are pretending to be one? Oh, how her demon buddies must giggle when they 'betray their location' to her."

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Anevia starts walking. "That was my first thought too, honestly."

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Uh, yikes? Should I be getting out of town before there's a mob in love with that idea? I'm a human! Lots of humans are psions where I grew up!

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"So what I did," Anevia continues, "is that when she offered to use her psion powers to soothe my pain and help me fall asleep, I pulled Seelah aside and said, look, anything happens, Bella's probably bad news. And instead she just did what she said, and kept doing that."

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"Also the angel sword did choose her and let her smite a demon that was otherwise going to rip us to bits."

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Last time I checked I pinged neutral good.

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"Which makes one of her and Hulrun that's Good. Just saying."

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"No one asked you, thief," says one of Hulrun's anxiously trailing guards.

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"Just because I'm a tiefling -"

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"That's not why people think you're a thief, it's the theft."

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"Oh, but looting is fine when you do it?"

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"We're getting supplies for the Defender's Heart in an emergency and writing it down so the Church can manage restitution afterwards!"

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And it might be time-sensitive so we should probably get going on that if Hulrun doesn't have any further questions for us?

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I know it is idiocy to ever split an adventuring party but I kind of want to get Hulrun all the way back to the Defender's Heart lest he murder the next civilian he runs across who looks at him funny. 

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Ugh. She's in an adventuring party. She never wanted to be in an adventuring party. Do you think you can coax him? - also there. Are civilians there, who might look at him funny, if he can't be cured instantly with what they've got on hand.

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- yeah. There's people who can stop him, but it could still easily get someone hurt. And he's going to try to seize control of operations from Irabeth and it's going to be a stupid mess but the alternative  -

 

- well, two alternatives, as I see it. One is to - let him wander around in this state and hope he kills more enemies than allies. I don't like it, but maybe it's our best option. 

The other is to knock him out in the middle of the next demon fight and then take him home, Irabeth'll be in a position to handle him by the time he wakes up. - that's a crime, to be clear. It is also what I'd do in your position. 

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Why in the middle of a fight, why not, like, now?

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It's less suspicious if it's in the middle of a fight. If you do it now Woljif and Hulrun's guards are going to suspect what's up. And not pick a fight about it, because they're not idiots, but -

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Let's walk with him for a while and see how hard he is to - redirect - I mean, obviously it's not easy or he would have gone after the demon, but maybe it's doable and I really don't like walking around all these demons without all the help we can get, Ember won't cut it every time.

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Seems reasonable to me.

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There are some demons up ahead, ripping apart a house to get to what sounds like a crying child inside.

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Well, hopefully Ember doesn't require cueing to sleep the demons??

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She's trying! She got one of the four - no, two of the four now. 

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Hulrun will in fact make himself useful with demon-killing; even with whatever's wrong with him he's stronger than any of them.

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Thank you! Uh - man, there's no good way to get the kid to Defender's Heart, is there -

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"Maybe we can wait until we've collected a bunch, and then some of us can escort them all back?"

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I guess I don't have a better idea. She goes in to collect the kid.

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The kid is hungry and super upset and clings!

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The house also contains some valuables not nailed down!

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As long as it's getting written down.

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Prelate Hulrun gets impatient with this and storms off to fight more demons.

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Uh, on your right, group of three of 'em! Bella tells him, scribbling down what Woljif is grabbing.

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And a human is running towards them from a different direction, perhaps drawn by the child's screams or by the sound of fighting.

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Uh, hello? - kiddo do you recognize this person -

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The kiddo does not recognize the person! The person does not recognize the kiddo, either. He halts when he seems humans who don't look immediately inclined towards murder. "- help - we need your help -"

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What is it?

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"Count Daeran's house is besieged by demons. We can hold them off but not forever."

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Uh - Hulrun, do you want to go handle that -

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"Count Arendae has made his bed and may as well lie in it." Also that is probably an ambush arranged by demons, but he doesn't tell the demons he thinks so.

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Uh - can you get this kid to Defender's Heart while we go to Count Daeran's house - where is it please -

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"I know where it is."

 

One of Hulrun's guard will take the kid, though not with the affect of someone who has much idea what to do with a kid.

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They just have to be able to physically carry the kid if the kid attempts to do something stupid, all of these people are qualified to do that.

To the Count's house.

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There are a lot of demons between their current location and there. Babaus, which go down in horrible sprays of acid when you hit them and can impale you if they get in a hit themselves. Woljif gets speared through. Seelah fixes him. The next one leaps the front lines and attempts to spear Bella through.

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Will the sword do the thing PLEASE

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It'll glow soothingly any time she wants! It's not doing any holy smiting right now. 


Stab.

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Oh that sucks so much.

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She also gets sprayed with kind of a lot of acid in the course of the babau getting taken down by the rest of the party. 

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Seelah can fix Bella, but it takes her kind of a while. "I'm low on healing."

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"Count Arendae's a healer. If he's alive, which is unclear, and inclined to help, which is also unclear."

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yaaaay she did not impulsively explode the whole town by attempting to save herself with arcane healing

Well, do we have a better idea?

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"Don't think so."

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"Nothing to do but forge ahead."

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"We could run away, that is also a thing we could do."

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Frankly I don't want to spend the psionic stamina or moral ambiguity on stopping you if you want to but I wouldn't have the first idea where to go.

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"Yeah, there's the rub," says Woljif. "it's just tundra north of here. I'm in hot water with my buddies so I can't go anywhere they'll follow me. If you go south, Ustalav's full of vampires and Lastwall's full of paladins, dunno which is worse."

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Seelah seems lovely.

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"Sneaky, boss, saying nice things about a paladin who just fixed the hole in my chest, so I can hardly contradict you."

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On the next street they encounter some men who are lighting fire to houses and wearing unfamiliar holy symbols. 

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"Baphomet cultists. Can you -"

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Can she? - oh the water spray spell would be so good right now but - can she just knock the cultists out.

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She can do that!

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"We gonna - leave them here?"

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"They're just gonna wake up and get back to it."

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I didn't pack any rope before my planar travel accident. Maybe we'll have a chance to swing by and grab them after some more carefully recorded looting that might include something to tie them up with.

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"- sure. The Count'll probably have some."

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"Pretty likely they get eaten by demons by then."

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"You have a clever solution?"

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"Oh, I say we leave them, I don't care if they get eaten by demons."

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Assuming Baphomet is a demon it's kind of what they were signed up for.

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"They will in fact be put to death anyway assuming they weren't mind controlled. That's not cause to let people die if you could protect them, but - we can't, we haven't got the means. There are plenty of innocent people who need saving."

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"Cool, sounds like we all agree, we keep going."

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(Ember does not comment. She does Sleep a demon up ahead.)

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Right.

On to the Count's house.

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It's barricaded, with demons in the middle of trying to batter down the doors.

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Can Ember handle them?

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She gets two, not the other four.

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Will the sword do the thing THIS time?

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Glow and be soothing? Sure!

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They can batter the demons to death even if Bella's sword is only being a normal slightly magical sword. Seelah does get her face ripped a little bit off.

 

"Out of healing," she says, once she's fixed it.

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I don't suppose Count Arendae is a conveniently different species from everybody else who'll be in his house so I can say hi to him through the walls and ask him to come out.

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" - actually he's an aasimar? So maybe, if your magic can distinguish that?"

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Oh. That's very convenient.

Aasimar?

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Yep- 

- and also there's something else, there, watching, listening, hungry and terrible even at this remove -

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AUGH? She is going to STOP sensing that thing? Why is that even there. Put it back outside the crystal sphere where it belongs. Why!

She shakes herself. Count Daeran?

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Who the fuck are you. Get out of my head.

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I am not reading your mind beyond what you try to communicate to me. I don't speak the language and furthermore am out of earshot. My companions out here have killed the demons that were surrounding your house but our paladin is out of healing, I hear you're a healer.

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She doesn't get an answer, but a minute later someone comes to the battered door. 

"Who's there?"

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"Help with your demon problem!"

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"Demon problem?"

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...Bella gestures at the demon corpses.

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"What the fuck. How'd they make it this far into the city -" He squints out the door at the wreckage beyond. "...was there a fire?"

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Baphomet cultists doing arson. The cultists are unconscious.

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" - I see. Well, commendations to you all, on handling that."

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"It's not handled. The city is still full of demons."

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And as I told the count our paladin here is out of healing, it would help enormously if we could borrow him, he could stand behind everybody else, bring some of you folks to watch his back, whatever.

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"Tell the idiots out front to get lost!" the Count shouts over the loud music.

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"Yeah, I think he's, uh, not in the mood."

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Does he at least have any supplies we could use? We're keeping notes of it all for reimbursement later.

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"He's got - love potions?"

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"That's illegal."

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"Beggars getting kinda choosy, aren't you."

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I don't want to make any demons fall in love with me. Does he have useful potions, like healing potions, rope, scrolls...

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"- wait out here, and I'll see if I can find anything."

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Thank you.

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He comes back with some healing potions and some rope, about ten minutes later. The music has in the meantime intensified.

"Right," he says. "Take this and please go away, you're making the Count very irritated."

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Bella hands around healing potions and writes down how many and where from. Thank you. If it is necessary to send another runner notifying us of demons surrounding the house, again, I hope the Count will consider that reason to reconsider, but maybe we'll just go kill all the remaining demons ourselves before they wonder what's going on over here, who knows.

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The guy shrugs apologetically and closes the door and starts re-barricading it. 

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"We're near Irabeth's and my place, let's stop by there before we head for the library?"

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Lead the way.

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Irabeth and Avenia's place has a succubus that has taken up residence.

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Does Ember get it?

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No. 


"Doesn't usually work, on demons that strong."

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And then the succubus smiles at them. It's the most reassuring smile in the world. "You look exhausted. Come in, please, I've made all of your favorite things/" She couldn't possibly be lying; no one that beautiful could lie.

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Oh, Bella's seen prettier. She doesn't dare touch the demon's mind but she can probably bolster everybody else a bit? Especially Seelah since she is the Swording Person.

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She is the Swording Person, which is probably why the demon's trying to make friends with her specifically! It blows her a kiss; her eyes go glassy. 

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(Anevia shoots it. This doesn't really seem to have any effect at all.)

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Magic sword? Come on?

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Glow!

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Seelah turns to attack Bella.

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Well, Seelah's conveniently a human. She doesn't want her to wake up with an awful headache, though, will the synaesthesia trick do?

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It makes her miss at least the first time.

 

(The succubus has demon friends! The succubus's friends are now helping it rip into them! Ember gets one of them to go to sleep, but not the other.)

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Bella will for lack of any better ideas try swinging the sword at the demons, in case that encourages it to help her.

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The sword is happy to glow and dazzle the demons and be mildly easier to wield and more dangerous than a normal sword. It does not do the holy smite thing again. The succubus gets frustrated in trying to enchant Bella and tries to rip her guts out instead. 

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Bella's boots work, so she has a halfway reasonable chance to get away from the swipe, though only halfway.

She would - not normally try directly contesting a demonic charm effect mid combat, that's the kind of thing you want to do with a patient who's tied up and has an advance directive and all that good stuff, but - she is not going to bust out the arcane spells and she does not want to die, so -

Okay, Seelah's mind. You're going to stop doing - that - look, that thing, that's not you - she takes off the synaesthesia too, almost without trying, it knocks loose when she's given the charm a hard enough shove.

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- Seelah makes a surprised squack and then turns mid-swing-at-Bella to swing at the demon instead. Smites Evil, because there's no point dying with a smite you had all saved up for an even bigger problem. 


The demon succeeds at clawing Bella's intestines out. But then it dies. 

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- healing potion?

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Delicious delicious healing potion yum.

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"Well, this sucks. You'd better have some good scrolls saved up," she tells Anevia. "...and the ability to use them, I can't read a scroll."

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"I can read a scroll."

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Bella is going to catch her breath for a minute while Anevia digs out scrolls from wherever.

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"Cool move," says Seelah, patting her. "Sorry for trying to kill you."

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No hard feelings. Uh, if we ever get fifteen quiet minutes I might want to have a look to make sure I didn't do anything stupid trying to do that as fast as I did.

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"Sure thing, I'll try to remind you tonight, but I feel okay."

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Anevia finds the scrolls and hands them to Woljif. "You run off with these I'll shoot you in the back."

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"I'm not a thief."

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You could try 'I'm not an indiscriminate thief'?

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....why?

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Saves quibbling in the long run.

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Huh.

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"Library?"

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"Yeah, let's do it."

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Is there anyone else with healing we could possibly hit up, at all? I'm increasingly despairing about the odds that I live through the day.

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"Hey, don't count yourself out. We've got some more potions, we're learning from every fight, and that sword might do its thing again."

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"If you can distinguish types of demons with psionics at all maybe we can tell apart the really scary ones and avoid those?"

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It's not wise to look that closely at them but I could maybe make some guesses based on how each signature is moving?

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"Probably better than nothing?"

 

 

 

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The library is barricaded; its inhabitants are, in fact, all nondemons, mostly human, one elf.

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No demons in there. Uh, if the demons often have telepathy asking them to let us in probably won't... work?

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"Most demons don't have telepathy, it's just that even fewer people do. Are the people in there okay and just barricading against demons, can you tell that?"

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Not without reading their minds. Or asking them. I'll try that.

To all of them at once, then: Hello, are you all okay in there?

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NO!! THEY ARE NOT OKAY IN HERE, THESE CRAZY BAPHOMET CULTISTS TOOK THEM PRISONER AND ARE TRYING TO BURN THEM WITH ALL THE BOOKS!

 

 

(No! They are not okay because they were not expecting to be interrupted but it's fine, they'll just tell the interrupters that the people they took prisoner are Baphomet cultists. Makes perfect sense.)

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Well, at least some of the folks in there are Baphomet cultists who may or may not be about to commit arson! Bella tells her party. (Why does she have a party. She is not a fucking delver.)

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That sounds like it calls for breaking down this door, then. That sounds like Seelah's job.

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"Is the elf we're looking for one of the cultists?"

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I don't think so - there's two groups and both of them are telling me the other is the cultists but the elf was in the less suspicious sounding bunch.

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"It's possible that they are all different flavors of Baphomet cultist but probably not."

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The door crashes open. Seelah heads in.

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Bella trots at her heels, ready to knock people out if they become really unambiguous Baphomet cultists.

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There's four men who are tossing books onto a pyre where they've tied up another four men. 

"Ah, hello," says one of the men tossing books. "These are Baphomet cultists. They tried to attack the library."

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Attacked the library, oh no, what if they'd hurt the books? she says, but only to her party. Ember, can you try the ones on the left and I'll get the ones on the right?

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The cultists can, instead of being awake, be asleep. How about that.

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Agreed completely.

Bella has no pyrokinesis, is there anything to smother the fire with - well, more importantly she can untie these people -

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The fire is having a moderately difficult time; it turns out that books do not burn incredibly well, and the cultists had been somewhat struggling to get their glorious pyre to go up. There is enough smoke that after a few minutes everyone is dizzy with it. 

 

The elf is old. Elves spend a very small share of their long lives looking that old. He is also badly disoriented, and clutching a book that turns out to be a cheap adventure tale. 

"I don't think he's well," one of the other prisoners says quietly to Seelah. 

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"We're out of healing, sorry." Seelah has beaten the fire mostly into submission with a rug and is tying up the cultists. "He can come back with us to the Defender's Heart. Actually, you all should."

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Is this who we were looking for? Bella asks Seelah.

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"Are you the, uh, Storyteller?"

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The confused man blinks slowly. "Yes. I'd say that sounds right."

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Okay. Godsdamned fucking adventure complete. Back to Defender's Heart with this lot, routing AROUND rather than THROUGH demons insofar as this is possible.

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Seelah and Anevia consult about the Baphomet cultists and decide that under the circumstances it does not make sense to take prisoners, except one of the Baphomet cultists looks to be twelve at the very oldest so they do take that one back with them to the Defender's Heart. 

 

 

Only one confrontation with demons is unavoidable - an ambush from some babaus - and it's over fairly quickly. One of the babaus thrusts a spear straight through the Storyteller but he turns out not to be as fragile as he looks; he isn't even slowed by it.

 

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"What do you know, the tavern's still standing."

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"Of course it is! Victory will be ours, eventually."

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Even if true this is hardly reason to expect the tavern will still be standing. But they head on in. 

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Is the kid they sent here? Are there any demons inside?

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Kid: curled up asleep on a straw mat she's sharing with several other kids. It's pretty noisy in the tavern but she's exhausted. Demons: nope!

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Oh good. She can... sit down. Breathe a little.

Wow, it turns out sitting down and breathing is terrible! Everything she loves is vanished out from under her and Fëanáro has until he engineers a plane shift before his grisly death and her chest hurts and she's been lethally injured way too many times recently to expect to see next week and even the faint and distant hope of buying her way to see her aging parents who have believed her dead for the last two decades can't really hold up against that.

But at least she is not at this moment actively fighting a succubus. She didn't like that. Also the horror from beyond the crystal sphere didn't notice her and she is so far doing fine on not obliterating this entire county with science magic fallout. And her boots work. If she puts her mind to it she can think of so many bad things that are not at this exact moment happening to her. She can't think of... any actively good things... but, well.

Maybe she should be asleep. She doesn't need a solid unbroken night of sleep for mana, now, does she, and who knows how long before the next disaster.

She finds somewhere to lie down and tosses and turns in it for a little while, perseverating on how everything sucks, before she gives up and knocks herself unconscious for the second time in a row.

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No one knows how psions work, so they let her sleep, assuming she doesn't sleep for two days straight or anything. Someone does bring in a tray of breakfast at a time that could be characterized as breakfast.

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She'll wake up when there's an overnight lull and then the hubbub rises again for breakfast-time. She will eat breakfast kind of without looking directly at it. Still no demons in here?

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No demons! (There was an attempt in the night, but at least a couple people here can see invisibility.)

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Oh good.

Is there any sign of... paper, here. In the possession of a person who isn't busy with more important things than Bella's emotional crisis.

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The priest of Abadar is selling some. 

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Can she get an unrelated person with nothing to do with that priest to give her a rundown on Abadar.

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" - god of commerce. Lawful Neutral. Worshipped mostly by merchants and travellers, His church is everywhere. They run the banks."

"They're good banks, they won't rob you and if they do you can go to a bigger one and complain and get your money back."

"He gives out a truth spell to His priests, one you can't just secretly evade even if you're powerful."

"Rathimus's all right, he's a local man. Well, I don't think he was born here, but he's been here my whole life, at least."

"He wasn't born here. He was born downriver. He's a good man, though."

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Okay. She's going to go find herself a little privacy and assess the inventory of her jewelry and pick out something that, at a guess, is not very expensive, and then come out and approach the Abadaran.

I'm not from around here and don't know the going rates of things but I hear that you're the person to ask.

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His eyebrows shoot up a little at the telepathy. "Yes." And he takes a close look at it, pulls out some sort of chalk to gently scrape it against -

"If you could get to Nerosyan right now, and knew the local jewelers, and weren't in a hurry, I would guess you could sell this for sixty, seventy pieces - six hundred or seven hundred Absalom pounds. I would give you three hundred if you wanted to sell it now."

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I'm not - exactly in a hurry? I want some paper. Can I use it as collateral against a loan, maybe, for more of its value?

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"These aren't really ideal conditions for making loans because everyone is so terribly likely to die. And if it'd be worth three hundred to me to end up with the ring I shouldn't want to have it backing a loan for all that much more than that. Of course, you might want to do the loan even if it's for the same value because it lets you buy your ring back if all goes well. I'd be willing to do that."

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Yeah, all right, let's do it that way. Thank you.

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He will write her out a loan agreement and then, if it's acceptable, loan her three hundred Absalom pounds (repaying three hundred thirty) with the ring as collateral.

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She reads it, but it looks fine. She will then buy some paper with some of her Absalom pounds.

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He has plenty of paper for sale. 

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She copies over the records of what was looted for defensive purposes first, more neatly.

Then it is time for SCREAMING INTO THE PAPER about how she's going to DIE and Fëanáro is going to land on Emily or something and be EATEN ALIVE and she got DISEMBOWELED yesterday and everything is horrible!

She feels better after having done this. She pockets all the paper and goes to see if the food distributing people need help with lunch prep or anything.

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They'll take help, yeah. Food supplies are running a bit low, though Irabeth thinks that probably no one will starve before the relief army from Nerosyan arrives. (It may or may not have food, when it arrives.)

 

There's some kind of demon assault on the tavern while she's helping with lunch; there are screams from outside and the armored people mostly rush outside to deal with it.

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She's basically useless against demons. She takes cover, if that seems to be the done thing.

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Yeah, people in here are mostly huddling and praying. 

 

 

      "- and may I be forgiven all the wrongs I ever done -"

 

       "If I survive, Goddess, I will dedicate my whole life to your service -"

 

       "It's going to be fine. It's going to be fine. There's nothing to fuss about. We'll go to your grandparents' as soon as the paladins say it's safe."

 

     "Mommy, why doesn't the Goddess come and kill all the bad guys?"

                "Because She's very, very busy, kiddo. Because She's very, very busy."

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It'd be a good excuse if it were true!

Is the angel sword up for doing anything by any chance?

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It'll emit a soothing aura.

The fighting ends, and the soldiers stagger back in to crowd around Rathimus, who channels energy and fixes them all up.

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That at least gods are good for.

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"Bella! We heard from some of the attackers that the cultists are operating out of the Tower of Estrod, across the way. Would you be willing to head out with me this afternoon, see if you can knock them down for us?"

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Yeah, I can do that if it's cultists not demons.

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"Yep, cultists. Cool. Lann and Anevia said they'll come too, and Woljif's not supposed to leave my sight. Whenever you're ready, I guess."

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I'm ready now.

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The streets are mostly deserted, but about halfway there they see a young woman, to the eyes apparently human but to a subtle artist definitely not so, who is wandering down the street with a clipboard. "Hello!" she says brightly. "Would you like to take my survey? I am studying Baphomet cultists' comprehension of the faith of Baphomet!"

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- everyone else clearly also thinks this is extremely weird behavior.

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I don't think I can help you as I am not a cultist.

To her allies - That's not a human, though she isn't a demon either.

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"Ah! Disappointing. But there are some cultists over there - I'll just go ask them." There are indeed some men congregated at the end of the street. Nenio heads towards them, apparently fearless. 

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"...she's addled, she needs a healer," Seelah says with a grimace, following.

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"Hello!" the girl is saying to the cultists. "What is the great weapon wielded by Baphomet called?"

 

 

They stare incredulously at her. 

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While they are distracted is a great time to knock them out one-two-three -

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"You," says the girl indignantly, "are interfering with the great march of empiricism! Of discovery! Of science!"

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And a good thing too!

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"What's your name?" asks Seelah. "Are you from Kenabres, or are you visiting?"

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"I am Nenio, explorer and author of the Encyclopedia Golarionnica, forthcoming!"

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"Right. Well, you should go back to the Defender's Heart. At some point some cultists are going to murder you."

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"Yes, they're very predictable," the girl says. "My research so far suggests that Baphomet cultists are not terribly intelligent, and are very uninformed about Baphomet."

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That's not surprising. Do they have something to tie up these cultists with?

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Yep. 

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Nenio starts walking off towards the Tower of Estrod.

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"I really think you should go to the Defender's Heart."

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Nenio looks scornfully at her. "You are irrelevant."

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It's really not wise to go around asking cultists questions, what are you going to do if they decide to try to sacrifice you to Baphomet?

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"They do that eighty three percent of the time! I foil the limited capacity of their eyes for interpreting light, or permit light additional capacities in passing through me, and then depart!"

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You... blind them? Or turn invisible?

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"As seems more suitable to the situation!"

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I... guess that's your risk to take, arguably, unless it's particularly dangerous for cultists to have access to one bonus sacrifice who isn't a human. What are you?

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"I am Nenio, explorer and author of the Encyclopedia Golarionnica!"

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You said that, I meant what species - I guess this isn't important. Seelah, are there more things I'd be useful for?

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"I guess we're going in the same direction as she is - are you going to the Tower of Estrod?" she asks Nenio.

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"I am approaching the nearest concentration of Baphomet cultists so I can survey them about their knowledge!"

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" - right, so, when we get there you can do another bunch of knockouts, if you're up for it."

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"How am I to complete my research with you lot interfering?"

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"Not everyone can turn invisible and run away from cultists," says Seelah, "so we have to do something about them."

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Why do you even want to know about whether the cultists are informed?

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"Inquiry is its own reward!"

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Maybe if we lock them up you can talk to them when they wake up.

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"I'll do that." 

 

It's not far to the Tower of Estrod, and they're accosted along the way only by a single babau, which Lann and Anevia take out with arrows and Seelah with her sword as soon as it pops out from around the corner. The cultists are gathered in the courtyard of a ruined building, apparently having some kind of strategic disagreement. There are around a dozen.

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That's kind of a lot. Ember, you start on the left and I'll get any you miss?

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Ember can do that. Everyone else watches warily to handle the response from the cultists once they start all falling asleep.

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I'm going to need another break after this, Bella says, once they're all knocked out.

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"Not a problem. We can head straight back now - Nenio, what are you doing?"

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Disassembling an elaborate exhibition clockwork of some kind - this place was a museum before it was a war zone, apparently -

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Uh, I don't think that's yours to take apart.

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"So many great treasures of pre-destruction Kenabres were lost to history due to the invasion of Deskari's forces," Nenio says, in the tone of someone taking notes for her encyclopedia. Seelah takes her arm and tugs her along with them back towards the Defender's Heart. 

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" - which is where you can interview the cultists, in the prison."

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"Interview the cultists? Ah, for the encyclopedia."

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"...do you not remember our conversation about this? It was five minutes ago."

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Nenio's expression falters slightly. "In the spirit of inquiry I will go on!"

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She is really not right in the head but hopefully it's in a way that generally harms only herself! Back to Defender's Heart.

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Where Seelah tries, and fails, to find anyone qualified to evaluate what's wrong with Nenio. 

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"If a channel doesn't fix it I am afraid she's out of luck until at least when the relief army arrives."

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"Goddess guide them."

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"Indeed."

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Nenio has sprawled on the floor and is drawing incomprehensible diagrams.

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Bella does glance at them to see if they're spells - she can look, just not touch -

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Yep! This one looks like it'll make it look like there are a half dozen illusory Nenios.

 

 

...she's trying to improve it.

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...like, in a stupid crazy way, or in a normal way where she's scrolling something that maybe came to her in a dream to try once and give up on if it doesn't pan out.

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Stupid! Crazy! That right there is discarded diagrams of eight attempted alterations!

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Eight! What the fuck!

Bella learned to siphon mana in high school and never improved on it in the slightest and she is going to bap Nenio on the head and take ALL of hers before she blows up the whole building!

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- Nenio blinks up at her, not even upset. "- clever! How did you do that?"

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(Across the room some other people who can see magic are alarmed! What was that?)

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If you have to mess around with spell variants like that at least do it somewhere uninhabited, have you no sense of - Well, obviously she has no sense of.

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Nenio blinks at her. "What were we talking about?"

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Bella shakes her head. Goes back to helping with the food situation.

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The rest of the day is quiet. There's discussion of a coordinated effort at dawn to get to the Wardstone again. There's a prayer service, led by a very young somewhat shaken teenage priestess of Iomedae, who after it's over scurries over to hang out with the equally young equally shaken teenage priest of Erastil. Nenio goes to the prisons to interview her cultists. Irabeth and Hulrun have a quiet discussion about the cultists and seem to end up in accord on fairly summary trials.

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If anyone needs her to knock over more cultists, she regains stamina for arts at a decent clip if she isn't doing too much talking. Or if anyone wants to borrow the angel sword.

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If she can do the sword's vague soothing effect periodically it seems to help some with minor injuries and it makes the kids feel better. If she has anything for separating out cultists from noncultists Irabeth would feel better about some of the summary trials. If there's another assault on the tavern they'll ask her for more help than that.

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Vague soothing effect periodically is totally doable.

I can read surface thoughts and that usually lets me tell if people are lying but I don't really like doing it if they're going to be executed for declining, that confuses the heck out of consent.

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"That's very reasonable," says Irabeth tiredly. "Everything we do about cultists ends up awful. Maybe if anyone is specifically begging to be offered a truth spell I'll see if we can make something work."

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"They beg for a truth spell just to waste our time and money," says Hulrun irritably. "All of these people were taken under arms serving a demon lord in slaughtering their way across this city. We couldn't afford your compunctions in peacetime, and this isn't." He looks somewhat recovered, though it's not clear it's improved his outlook much.

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"Most of them are," Irabeth says. "I'm sure there's an innocent man who was just carrying a sword to defend himself mixed in there, and I'm not sure there aren't five."

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"Then Heaven'll recognize them."

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Someone begging for a truth spell can have me instead. I won't charge you for it.

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Irabeth nods, and goes with Hulrun downstairs to sort through the cultists. 

 

 

There are two people begging for a truth spell, as it happens; one is just lying, and the other is genuinely not a cultist but was out in the streets to try to rob his neighbor's house and kind of expects that if they get this explanation they will still execute him.

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The one is a cultist. The other one is not a cultist. She will privately advise him not to repeat this mistake but she will confine her public remarks to "not a cultist".

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Good enough for Irabeth; he can go. 

 

The other one continues insisting he's not a cultist and that Bella's lying, but Irabeth considers this unlikely.  She waves the teenage priests over to minister to the condemned, and then they lead them out of the tavern.

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A tiny child who was a beneficiary of the last sword-soothing comes up to Bella and rests his head against her. "You're nice," he tells her.

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Pat pat. This is a human kid but she still aims for the shoulder. Thank you.

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Seelah comes over after a while to sit down heavily and try to hammer a dent out of her armor. "Well," she says with a slightly unreasonable amount of cheer, "here we are, still alive!"

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So it would seem! Think we can make it through a whole week?

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"Sure we will. The Goddess is looking out for us." Hammer hammer hammer. 

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Oh, is she.

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"...yes? If we didn't have Heaven helping then the demons would've swallowed us all a long time ago."

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There've been a lot of casualties so far, is all.

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"Well, the Goddess is the newest god, and not as powerful as the ancient gods yet, and there are lots of bad things in the world for her to fix."

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So her watching us might be good but it is not really a sure thing.

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"I guess." Seelah shifts her weight uncomfortably. "I dunno, I just have a good feeling. We only need to hold out until the army comes, and we hit the cultists pretty badly today."

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What's the army going to do once things are calmed down?

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"...drive out all the demons and then go wherever else they're needed, I suppose?"

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Well, if it's not 'stick around imposing martial law' I guess that's all to the good... what's to stop more demons from coming through?

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"The wardstone does that, usually. Deskari threw it halfway across the city but it's still working, as far as I know, they just need to move it back. Or move the city. I don't know which will be easier exactly. There's never enough soldiers, I don't think they'll be sticking around when not needed."

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Oh, how does it work?