The Wrong Guys IC II

[Strawberries]

Audric looks at her like he can't believe his ears. He seems actually angry. "Have you seen the same ritual I saw? He could have died there, and he was defenceless! I won't have you-" he stops before he says something that he'll probably regret, and takes a deep breath "Fine. But you have to promise me you'll put aside your prejudices and listen to him. Kalan!" he calls out to the other paladin. If he is already out of hearing range he'll run up to catch with him. "Would you please come back just for a moment?"

[Ajadea]

Kalan turns around and comes back, his steps not even missing a beat as he returns to almost the exact same place he had been standing before. "What is it?" His expression is very faintly irritated.

[Strawberries]

Audric sighs "I am sorry to have called you back. Please bear with me for just another moment." He addresses the other paladin an apologetic expression "Would you please reassure my friend here that you aren't going to sic the Order on us as soon as you are out of her sight? She doesn't seem to trust in my word." The latter sentence has a slight tone of reproach towards the druid.

[Savannah]

Rana crosses her arms and gives Kalan a doubtful look.

[Ajadea]

Kalan sighs, raking a hand through his graying hair. "Ignoring the fact that I stand here unarmed, unarmored, and quite vulnerable to your attacks, there are many reasons it would be an idiotic decision to call on the other paladins. For example, I myself would face a heavy inquiry and quite possibly expulsion from the Order altogether, simply for assisting you with this exorcism." His tone seems to be one a teacher might use when lecturing a class.

[Savannah]

Sense motive! (1d20+4)[13] (Hey, I never said Rana was particularly rational around paladins...)

[Ajadea]

Rana

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Kalan seems to be telling the truth.

[Savannah]

Rana sighs, "Well, you do have a point -- they'd hardly approve of what you've done here." She hesitates, then goes on, "But why? You're a paladin; you should have killed Paral instead of saving him."

[Ajadea]

"With what? My bare hands?" Kalan quips, holding one of said hands up. His skin is wrinkled and dry, and slightly bloody still from his earlier examination of Paral. "I know when I am outmatched. And...I believe that you four would have tried this with or without my help. As a paladin, my duty is to protect others. Why would I let your chance of death rise so high when I had the knowledge necessary to prevent that?"

[Strawberries]

Audric crosses his arms and frowns at the druid "Which is exactly what I have been trying to tell you for quite a while, now." he interjects. Oddly enough, he has not been upset when Rana had doubted him as much as he is bothered now that she is questioning Kalan's intentions. The man deserved thanks, not an interrogation.

[Jallorn]

Meanwhile, Antal has heaved Paral up onto his back, and is now attempting to drag him... somewhere else.

[Strawberries]

"Antal!" Audric almost snarls, raising his voice a bit. "For Aldaran's sake, put him down! The boy is wounded, and you just risk making it worse. I do not understand what is with you both. Kalan is not going to denounce you or Paral and I am certainly not going to denounce you or Paral. We put our lives at risk for you, why in the hells are you acting so illogically?" The paladin seems to clearly be at the end of some sort of tether.

[Jallorn]

I told you, I couldn't give a rat's ass whether or not he brings the whole paladin order down on us, I just want to get Paral better. If you guys are too busy arguing, then I'm going to do it myself!

[Strawberries]

"Antal, 'he' happens to be standing right next to you, and we told you we are not going to do anything of the sort. Stop being a fool." He sighs. Antal is worried for his friend, and that's understandable, but if he would only stop and think sometimes... "As for Paral, both Rana and I did what we could for him. And he just had an evil spirit forcibly removed from him, I would expect he needs at least some time to come around, which means rest. Put him down, don't jostle him too much, and let me take another look at him." Forgetting for a moment both Kalan and Rana in his worry over the unconscious boy, he takes a step towards Antal, with the intention of helping him with Paral if the halfling lets him.

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I'm going to try an heal check to see if there's something else wrong with Paral and how long would it take him to wake up, but only if Antal doesn't object something

[Jallorn]

Paral needs better healing than either of you can give him, he needs a healer. I'd appreciate a little more help, but you've done more than enough already, and I'll continue on my own if need be. Antal is more than a little worked up, but he seems to be trying to keep himself in check, a first. He doesn't put Paral down, but he also doesn't stop Audric from doing anything.

[Nanoblack]

Llaars

During the last few turns of the conversation, it had become obvious that Llaars was eye-ing Antal with some measure of displeasure. "Antal! What are you gonna do if you drag him to wherever you're goin' and he bleeds out? Knowing that you had two sets of healing hands right here but your stubborn ass still ran off and let your friend die... his blood'd be on your hands."

He takes a few steps toward the halfling and points and angry finger toward him. "I don't give a damn about why you think these paladins are really here, this man follows your crazy ass through a sewer full of monsters, spellcasters, and more crazy gnomes like you and what do you do? Threaten an old man with your sword right after he ripped a ghost out of your friend! And you wonder why people hate casters! You're giving your own people a bad name."

He clenches his fist and drops it to his side. "Drop the kid so we can finish saving him."

[Ajadea]

Kalan sighs quietly, the sound all but lost in the growing argument. His eyes flick from the silent Rana to the deteriorating situation between Antal, Audric, and Llaars. "There is little that Aldaran's blessings will do for a sorcerer. If that is all...." Once again, the old man moves to leave, rather more swiftly this time.

[Jallorn]

Llaars

During the last few turns of the conversation, it had become obvious that Llaars was eye-ing Antal with some measure of displeasure. "Antal! What are you gonna do if you drag him to wherever you're goin' and he bleeds out? Knowing that you had two sets of healing hands right here but your stubborn ass still ran off and let your friend die... his blood'd be on your hands."

He takes a few steps toward the halfling and points and angry finger toward him. "I don't give a damn about why you think these paladins are really here, this man follows your crazy ass through a sewer full of monsters, spellcasters, and more crazy gnomes like you and what do you do? Threaten an old man with your sword right after he ripped a ghost out of your friend! And you wonder why people hate casters! You're giving your own people a bad name."

He clenches his fist and drops it to his side. "Drop the kid so we can finish saving him."

OOC: I'm sorry, but I really need to clarify this. Antal saying he didn't care wasn't him saying he expected it. That was simply him saying it didn't matter either way. And the sword threatening was before the exorcism.

So Antal isn't actually worried about the paladins, if anything he's irritated that Rana's making such a big deal about it when Paral needs medical attention.

[Savannah]

Rana crosses her arms and watches Kalan leave with the air of a hawk watching a mouse.

[Ajadea]

Audric

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Beyond the extremely obvious trauma of the exorcism, you can see nothing else wrong with Paral. The faint traces of gray and green still on his skin...you aren't quite sure what that means. But it looks like Paral will likely wake up. Eventually. Probably not today though.

[Strawberries]

Audric follows Kalan leaving with his eyes, and then turns to give a hard, almost accusing look to Rana, but doesn't say anything, instead returning to his examination of the young sorcerer. His posture is tense and his shoulders taut, and when he finally speaks there is an uncharacteristic edge to his voice "I can see nothing else wrong with him, aside the obvious. And these traces, here on his skin. I am not quite sure what they are." He launches another look at Rana, to see if she has noticed them and wants to add something else, then continues talking "Antal, he is going to wake up. He is not going to die, but he needs rest. Probably at least all today."

He sighs, shutting his eyes for a moment, "I do not want to risk healing him, not anymore, if not absolutely necessary. It hurts me, but most importantly, I am not sure if it helps him. We will have to wait...unless Rana wants to try something else."

[Savannah]

Rana sighs slightly and bends over Paral, assessing his condition herself. Heal (1d20+9)[18].

[Ajadea]

Rana

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Paral needs rest. He probably won't wake up for a day or so. The grayish-green patches of skin are probably bad news, just because skin isn't supposed to look like that. And he's going to be scarred. Badly. Sort of thing that happens when the healing stitches the gash together with bits of new skin.

[Savannah]

"What I want to try is getting out of here and never looking back. If you were asking what I want to try for healing Paral, he needs rest for several days."

[Strawberries]

Audric turns to look at the druid when she mentions getting out and never looking back "I thought" he says very carefully "That you wanted to try and stop that witch from making more damage. Paral may be a valuable source of information, if that is still your purpose."

He is silent for a moment, considering the options - not that many that he can see, really. He turns to the big man that has kept a few steps behind "Llaars" he starts, then hesitates. He is aware that asking the man to commit a crime for him, sheltering a sorcerer, is quite a lot. "We- Paral needs a safe place where he can recover for a while. I don't know any other suitable places except your tavern. Is it...would it be acceptable if we went back there?" He looks Llaars in the eyes and adds, trying to reassure him "I promise I will stay with him at all times, so if something goes wrong, your people will be protected. And... should anyone discover you're housing a sorcerer, the blame would be mine alone. You would be perceived as just following a paladins'orders."

[Savannah]

"What I want is to leave, as I said. What I have to do is stop the witch. That doesn't mean I have to be happy about it."

[Nanoblack]

Llaars

Audrics humble request and willingness to accept any consequences is followed by a few seconds of silence before Llaars finally answers. "Yeah sure. We're in this together and it's not like ya'll have anywhere else to go." He looks to Rana after her mention of the witch. "She's not forgettin' about us anytime soon. Even if you turned tail and ran, she'd find you. I'm glad you're stayin' though."

Finally he steps toward Antal. "You're gonna need some help carryin' that kid if we're headin back to the Ragin' Roc. Lemme help."

[Ajadea]

You head back to the Raging Roc. Though, as might be expected, the unconscious Paral draws several looks, no one seems eager to ask questions. The tavern is slightly more empty than before, and talk of the witch pops up every so often. Most of it seems to be nonsense-if half the things the people in the tavern are saying were true, Iil'ssaran would be some sort of accursed fire-breathing dragon that walked around in broad daylight with a beating heart in her hand. At the same time, they seem relatively confident that they are safe within the walls of Attalin, never mind that Iil'ssaran was here two days ago.

[Strawberries]

While it's probably true that they are losing time and terrain over the witch by returning back to the tavern, there's something good to be said about the possibility to have a decent bath and a warm meal - Audric addresses a grateful smile towards Llaars, and finds himself relaxing just a little bit.

Inside the tavern, he tries his best to draw the least possible attention to himself, and especially his status as a paladin. Challenging, since that's not something that comes natural to him at all, but he really doesn't want people spreading talks of a paladin guarding an unconscious boy...in a tavern, when the temple is a mere stroll away. Aware of his promise to Llaars, he asks that Paral be placed in a room with two beds (or three, if Antal wants to stay too) so that he can keep an eye on him, and maybe help speed up his recovery, too. "It's probably best if we take advantage of this time to rest and recover ourself" he says to the others "When Paral awakes, we will probably have our hands full"

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Just in case it helps, heal - (1d20+7)[20]. Also, he is going to keep an eye on Paral and on his magic too, so Detect Magic, periodically. And sorry for the delayed answer.

[Ajadea]

(1d2)[2]

Weary, confused, and/or worried you retire for the day. Though the ritual was short and the whole debacle less than two hours, you find yourselves exhausted by the stress. However you choose to spend the remainder of the day, the ghost and Iil'ssaran weigh on your mind to some extent. Night falls eventually, as it always does. Sleep does not come easily, but exhaustion is better than most other remedies for insomnia, and you do manage to sleep nonetheless.

When you wake up, you find Paral is still asleep, either unconscious or simply unwilling to awaken. And it's raining. Not the most auspicious way to start the day. The fourth day since you met, incidentally.

Audric

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I'll give you three detect magic attempts throughout the day

After you return to the Raging Roc

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Paral's magical aura reminds you of windswept orange silk streaked with black, reeking of burnt flesh, feeling like a ceramic smashed several times over by a sledgehammer.

Sometime during the day

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His aura is quiescent, folded in on itself. Otherwise, it looks much the same.

Before you went to sleep

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No change in his aura, save perhaps that it may have become even more still. If that is even possible.

Now

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His aura looks much the same as it did before you went to sleep, save that it no longer reeks quite so badly of burning flesh.