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a Lucy is born in Geb
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Luzai has ever heard of the spell Breath of Life, but not in enough detail for her to even regret that there's nobody here capable of casting it. 

If she were a stronger wizard she could have just Dominated Hosilla to start with and then the priest and the child would both be alive. 

She'll be that strong someday. The situation wouldn't be better if she had waited until she could cast higher-circle spells to come to the Worldwound. 

She Acid Splashes Hosilla in the back of the head and then runs back around her own Grease spell to try to help Anevia out of the rubble. ...Again.

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Right now Anevia is wishing that there were fewer powerful demons who considered “let’s send Anevia tumbling and then bury her in rubble” a fun plan. It’s not that she’s not grateful for not being dead, mind, it’s just the current state of affairs leaves a lot of room for improvement. Her leg isn’t much more of a fan of this return to status quo, either. 

Thankfully the rocks in question this time are significantly lighter, so the lack of Seelah’s assistance doesn’t matter as much as it could. 

“Thanks. Both for this, and, you know.”

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"You're welcome." She's still hoping they don't have to have a conversation about her ability to put the fear of Lariel into the fuck-off demon that requires her to actually lie about anything, but they have bigger problems right now. 

Okay. What else can she do that's helpful, besides acid splash Hosilla again and pretend it matters. ...She can check the surviving children for Enchantments. 

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There are none detectable. Whatever is different about them now seems like a permanent change to what they are rather than some active magical effect that can be readily removed.

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With help from Camellia’s curses impairing Hosilla’s movements and focusing on fighting defensively, Seelah is mostly able to keep up. She’s not exactly able to injure the inquisitor, but she can sort of push her back by taking advantage of the fact that a longsword is designed for fighting at closer range than a glaive is. Focusing this intently is exhausting, though, and she can’t afford to slip up; the one hit she already took took all the rest of her lay on hands to heal, and two more like that would drop her.

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Even now my, Hosilla is not an easy opponent to defeat. The woman still has every inch the power that she had used to make Wenduag submit before, but this time there’s no Savamalekh to enforce her place. She had a brief moment of panic when it looked like the inquisitor might just carve her way through them anyway, but then the Paladin shrugged it off and showed herself able to keep up with Hosilla. Now it’s her turn to be hunted, just like any other prey.

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Okay yeah Hosilla can also deal with some acid how about. It’s not going to help a lot, but it’ll help a little.

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Even with Anevia and Luzai back in the fray, the fighting is touch and go for a bit. The arrows and acid are hurting Hosilla more than she’s hurting Seelah, yes, but there’s nothing that stops her from stepping back to heal herself whenever the injuries add up enough, and when she manages to land a hit past Seelah’s guard they don’t have any such option.

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And then, finally, one of Camellia’s curses lands. For half a minute she’s free to focus on hampering Hosilla’s defenses, and the increase in their offensive capabilities forces Hosilla to first start healing more often and then commit to focusing on her own defenses.

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That means Seelah can focus on attacking instead, and with a smite her sword is significantly more threatening than the arrows. At that point it’s all over except the dying, and pretty soon Hosilla does that too. 

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They’re tired, injured, low on arrows and spells - but they’re still here, and their opponents aren’t.

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Luzai knows that objectively she was the MVP of that encounter on account of having chased the big bad demon away, but she still feels very awkward for having spent most of the actual time during the fight flinging cantrips, and not being one of the ones breathing hard because she wasn't engaged in physical exertion mostly. 

This is stupid probably. 

She...goes over to check on the three surviving kids. And find the dead one's head and put it with his body. 

She feels really really bad that not only the priest but also one of the children died. They came here to save the children and there is a dead child and she hates that, and that is not a stupid feeling. 

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Lann agrees that checking on the survivors is the most important thing, but after having confirmed that the three are unconscious but not in any immediately visible danger, he does have some other concerns. 

"Why did Hosilla think you would attack us?" he asks Wenduag. 

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"I've been in the maze before, Lann. What did you think that meant?" Wenduag speaks derisively to her fellow neather.

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He looks at her with horror. "You--you ate--like them--" 

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"I went through the same ritual they did, yes. The difference is I have an iron will and mastered my anger - the anger and rage inside each and every one of us - rather than becoming an animal. I refused to lie down and accept my death - I fought to survive, just like I always have."

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Luzai places a hand gently on her shoulder. "Thank you." 

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Wenduag preens a little at that.

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"Are we just going to ignore the fact that she lied to us? About everything going on in this maze, when she knew the truth from the start?"

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"I mean...I don't like the fact that she didn't say anything before we got there. But...it's not like she's the only one who has secrets." 

Deep breath. 

"On the second day after I arrived in Kenabres, I watched Prelate Hulrun hang a man because the man had a relative who was a demon cultist and he hadn't turned him in. 'Relative who is a demon cultist' is--not exactly the situation I'm in--but it's a lot more like the situation I'm in than most things are--it's complicated. But I got a Sending, twenty-four hours before Deskari attacked, warning me to either flee the city or find shelter. 

"I didn't go to Prelate Hulrun about it. There was no chance, after that second day, that I would ever go to Prelate Hulrun about it. 

"I couldn't do nothing. I actually went to Count Arendae, first, just because I had heard how much he hated Hulrun. He expressed surprise that I hadn't gone to the Eagle Watch, so I did go there next. That's where Anevia recognized me from. 

"And then when the attack actually happened, I was loitering near a group of kids and I got them into the temple of Iomedae, where it was at least a little safer. And if there hadn't been a Count Arendae or an Eagle Watch that I could go to without Hulrun finding out about me, then I still would have tried to save those kids. But I wouldn't have gone to the authorities at all, if there weren't any authorities that wouldn't turn me over to Hulrun." 

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Seelah has so many questions and things to say she's not sure where to start. Luzai has a relative who's a demon cultist - no, not that, but something similar? She went to count Arendae about it? They were warned about the attack and it still turned out like this? She should have made sure Luzai knew she could go to her - no, bad thoughts, she has no idea how she could have done that other than by deciding to constantly pick fights in public with the prelate and that's got to be against some kind of rule. Probably a lot of them.

"I don't think they have an inquisition down here?" she tries, though now she's not sure what point she's trying to make.

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Luzai points at Hosilla's corpse. 

"She was an Inquisitor. At least, the cultist with the earth elementals said so. Which isn't really important, it's just sort of nicely illustrative. Wenduag knew about that fuck-off demon and she still stuck her neck out to help us. Would I rather she have told us why the Shield Maze was, actually, so dangerous? Yes, but--she did warn us that it was that dangerous. If I hadn't had Lariel's sword, we would have been toast. I think even if all the Neathers came in together like Lann wanted, they'd still have been toast--it's not like there's room, in here, for them to really get much advantage from outnumbering him. So...telling, before, probably wouldn't have been a good idea either."

And...I should have told you sooner, too. When Anevia recognized me, probably. When you get in the habit of keeping a secret, it can be hard to stop."

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"I'm inclined to agree, at least about the danger. I've never seen a demon like that before, but between an aura strong enough to give Seelah trouble and being able to get up after a hit like that it's obviously very bad news. If I have a choice, I'm not going anywhere near a rematch - not unless I can bring a few dozen paladins and an army strike team with me. It doesn't matter how many people you have in a fight if none of them can do any damage."

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"Are we all going to ignore the part where apparently she ate someone?" 

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"And here I was under the impression that was what passed for a normal meal down here. What, should she have made sure to bring back enough for the rest of you?"

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