Three Goddesses - IC (Thread #2)

[Toliudar]

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Melinda SAID that Sword should carry the body. We never did it.

Dot chuckles.

"Who said anything about coming inside?"

[Debbie_D]

After a 3 day (little Forum joke) short pause, Aaron comes back to the entrance to the temple, and confers for a moment with the captain, who turns back to you.

Carlita will see you now. As I have said, I simply cannot allow a potentially hostile force to come armed into the temple. You will divest yourself of weapons before entering.

[Kalirren]

"Right..." Melinda says as she flares the guards her open palms, which, as usual, carry nothing. "Look. I've come to return one of your fallen. As you can see, it makes no personal difference to me. But I will not make my companions walk unarmed into sanctuary that, frankly, neither of us trusts the other to maintain."

"I don't know where Carlita gets the idea that anyone would dare attack a priest of Victory inside a temple of Victory. She is safe," taunts Melinda. "I respect Silescia that much. But if Carlita is coward enough not to come out of her hole to receive her own vassal in state, then you are free to instead take this body to her, with my worst regards for one who would abuse the faith and dignity of one who follows them with such loyalty."

"Go, Aaron. I've ensured you'll remember what I said word for word. We will not await her response for long. We have other places to go."

[Modify memory. Subsequently, death ward, if Melinda has a round to cast it.]

[lostsole31]

Drisae just stands by to see what unfolds, but makes sure to casually look around what ever plaza is around .... which means strolling ... to make sure she is not in the immediate vicinity of her new allies in case of an AoE attack. Better to be prepared .... and drow-ifically paranoid.

[Debbie_D]

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Since the forums are much more stable

it doesnt take Carlita long to make her appearance at the temple entrance.
Carlita is a classic ice queen, although she doesnt have the stunning looks of some of them, she does the best she can with her resources. Her hair is pure white while her eyes are ice blue. Her clothing is severe and austere, it is moderately revealing, but that seems to be more by accident than by design. A scimitar is belted to her waist, but anyone who knows the faith of Silescia knows that her tradition demands that she be a monk as well.

Im not exactly sure why you are here. State your business so we can be done with it. I have better things to do with my time than bandy words with street walkers.

[Toliudar]

Dot and Clyde stay very close to Melinda, trusting the Silescians about as much as she could throw the entire temple. At this point, actually, that sounded like a good idea.

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Clyde is ready to teleport Melinda back to the edge of town at the first sign of attack.

Since one of her 'secret' assassins is standing amongst the group, Dot knows that Carlita is full of something. Sense Motive to try to figure out whether she is simply lying out of expedience, or seems to believe her own lies: (1d20+29)[41]

[Kalirren]

"I can't believe you have the gall to pretend not to know why I'm here," seethes the Dranian priestess. "Are you such a dolt that I need to remind you you sent an assassin after me? One who looked sort of like that?" Melinda jerks a thumb at Tasha. "Or have you forgotten already? Was she like a seeking arrow to you, to fire, and forget, and deny to save the slightest ounce of face? Disgusting."

[Insert the very probable "What do you want?", or like comment, here.]

"I came here for one very specific reason," Melinda continues mercilessly. "You sent her after me. I'm here to trade tit for tat," she explained. "I'm now going to send her after you."

The bardess snaps her fingers, completing the spell she had woven in and amongst her insults.

[Animate objects, spell disguised at DC = Perform(oratory)(1d20)[20]+37.]

Korash's corpse rises.

The head comes up first, facing away from the entrance of the temple, as Sword was bearing her head first in. It turns, as if to look around, but then the body unnaturally catches up with the head, twisting inhumanly. Then the legs swing down from Sword's back, and the whole assemblage alights upon the temple flagstone with a definite mechanical clumsiness.

The bardess makes it regain its footing, and she takes her flesh-puppet by the hand. "Carlita, let me tell you, it really takes one to know one. You have taken one of your own faithful and prostituted her faith," she accuses, confronting the Silescian with its brutal, full, frontal and dead nudity. "Look upon the vileness of your own work. Look very closely." She sends the corpse walking forwards with the invitation. "Do you see that smirk on her face? That little uptwitch at the corner of her lips, behind her clenched teeth? That was the expression she was wearing when she died from the poison she took. I'm a priestess of Sabrina, and very recently of Nocticula too. That last might be new, but trust me when I say I've already seen, done, and imagined many perverted things."

"And I have to say, Carlita - " and Melinda points to Korash's face, "- this takes the f***ing cake. Congratulations."

She sends the assassin's body stumbling forward to the threshold. "Bury her well, Carlita. She was twice the woman you are. I suspect Silescia would agree."

(Convert the Unfaithful - Will DC 37 with Charm domain power.)

[Debbie_D]

"I can't believe you have the gall to pretend not to know why I'm here," seethes the Dranian priestess. "Are you such a dolt that I need to remind you you sent an assassin after me? One who looked sort of like that?" Melinda jerks a thumb at Tasha. "Or have you forgotten already? Was she like a seeking arrow to you, to fire, and forget, and deny to save the slightest ounce of face? Disgusting."

[Insert the very probable "What do you want?", or like comment, here.]

Returning the body to me is meaningless. A body is just a shell for the soul. If she succeeded in her mission, then her soul is honoured in the halls of Silescia. If she failed, she is nothing to us. We of the faith of Silescia do not practice the foul arts of necromancy and raise people.
I do not deny sending her after you. And despite the fact you are standing here, a testament to more necromancy, I know she succeeded, in delivering her message. So you can take this message, harlot, your goddesses do not make you invulnerable. Every moment you spend on this earth, you will know you can be killed. Every moment that you sleep, you will know you can be killed. And not in some sort of theoretical way, you will have already tasted death. Think well on that before you continue.

"I came here for one very specific reason," Melinda continues mercilessly. "You sent her after me. I'm here to trade tit for tat," she explained. "I'm now going to send her after you."

The bardess snaps her fingers, completing the spell she had woven in and amongst her insults.

[Animate objects, spell disguised at DC = Perform(oratory)[roll0]+37.]

Korash's corpse rises.

The head comes up first, facing away from the entrance of the temple, as Sword was bearing her head first in. It turns, as if to look around, but then the body unnaturally catches up with the head, twisting inhumanly. Then the legs swing down from Sword's back, and the whole assemblage alights upon the temple flagstone with a definite mechanical clumsiness.

The bardess makes it regain its footing, and she takes her flesh-puppet by the hand. "Carlita, let me tell you, it really takes one to know one. You have taken one of your own faithful and prostituted her faith," she accuses, confronting the Silescian with its brutal, full, frontal and dead nudity. "Look upon the vileness of your own work. Look very closely." She sends the corpse walking forwards with the invitation. "Do you see that smirk on her face? That little uptwitch at the corner of her lips, behind her clenched teeth? That was the expression she was wearing when she died from the poison she took. I'm a priestess of Sabrina, and very recently of Nocticula too. That last might be new, but trust me when I say I've already seen, done, and imagined many perverted things."

"And I have to say, Carlita - " and Melinda points to Korash's face, "- this takes the f***ing cake. Congratulations."

She sends the assassin's body stumbling forward to the threshold. "Bury her well, Carlita. She was twice the woman you are. I suspect Silescia would agree."

(Convert the Unfaithful - Will DC 37 with Charm domain power.)

When Melinda casts her spell, Carlita's face doesnt even twitch. As the corpse stumbles forward, she simply raises her own holy symbol and zombie crumbles to dust.
More foul necromancy, as I always suspected. But I believe the question of what Silescia thinks of me has been succinctly answered.
Now, do you have anything else you wish to say? Or are we done here?

[PSinger]

Atareth shakes her and says, "I do not agree with my sister's action here. But even in the service of a religion focusing on the overall mission, it horrifies me to know that your servant's focus, dedication, and the years of training it must've taken to get her to the point she did ... despite failure ... means she is nothing to you.

"Carlita, I believe you have taken the veneration of what was once a goddess of honorable victory far afield from its original. But you are that high priestess."

Atareth sadly says, "Come, Sword. We will not ignore Victory on the days she is kind to us."

And she turns and walks away with Sword.

[Debbie_D]

Failure? You seem to misunderstand totally. Korash did not fail, she succeeded. She was able to slay Melinda, and that was the entirety of her mission. And for that success, she is now sits in Silescia's hall of honour. Why would we pull her back from such honoured service?

[Toliudar]

Dot's face scrunches up in confusion.

"So you sent one of your most capable and trusted agents after us, so so that Melinda could have a more complete and rounded undersanding of the preciousness of life? Well, uh, thanks, I suppose.

"Although the next time you wish to send a message, I'd suggest that it be in the form of a letter. Much less wasteful and prone to be misunderstood. Personally, I see tremendous opportunity for overlap and collaboration in the realms of passion and victory. Clearly, you don't, though."

She sends a mental message to her colleagues.

"It seems pretty clear to me that she's not interested in conversation. Melinda, would you like to attempt a dazzling display of rhetoric, or can we move on now?"

[Debbie_D]

Our message was nothing of the sort. Our message was much simpler. The "protection" of her goddesses is nothing. We can, and others can, whenever they want, snuff out her life like that. And if she continues the course she is on, that will be her fate.

[Telasi]

Taleira Ulharvyth

When you said pick a fight, did you mean an actual fight, or just this pointless bickering? This bitch is annoying, and I've already got a good bit of anger to work off.

[Toliudar]

"I agree with Taleira. She's made it clear that she intends ongoing harm to Melinda. It would seem pragmatic to end her here, to put a stop to such silliness from other temples of Silescia, or to leave and not return."

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Debbie, I'm assuming that Dot is close enough to read magic auras on Carlita and crew. No point doing concentrated fire on her if this is some kind of imposter. Could I get a rundown of magic auras on these folks, and any relevant auras active at the front of the temple? Also, previously noted 41 on sense motive, to get a sense of whether she's lying about any of this.

[Kalirren]

Returning the body to me is meaningless. A body is just a shell for the soul. If she succeeded in her mission, then her soul is honoured in the halls of Silescia. If she failed, she is nothing to us. We of the faith of Silescia do not practice the foul arts of necromancy and raise people.
...

"I accept my mortality," rebuts Melinda with consideration in her rhetoric. "But neither will I let myself be simply robbed of the chance to trade my rightful life for a worthwhile legacy. That is a simple benefit of wealth, bless Alatia, and I intend to partake of it. The lesson you have taken it upon yourself to impart is better left for Dantilus. It is He who will be my judge in this matter, as He judges all who die."

"But please do answer me this: Is Victory truly so inhuman as to recognize none of her own who fail in the long struggle? Or so blind as not to see the ephemeralness of some victories won?" challenges the bardess. "That is what I hear you make Her out to be. I will not be easily convinced of that."

"I come from a place not far from here, a place that has suffered war and strife for generations, that has suffered rape and destruction at the hands of empires that come and go. Yet I can still conceive of a day when the people of my nation rise and demand victory for their own passions, for their own families and their own ways of life."

"That day may not come while I yet live. But for now, as one priestess to another, know that it saddens me that children in my homeland learn throughout their youth about how their lives are worth nothing except in the service of the causes and ideas and desires of foreigners. What victories they achieve, they win at the expense of themselves and their own heritage. And their lives become as empty as smoke."

"Your church is strong here, not mine," admits Melinda. "You may serve Victory, but Victory cannot be the only force to whom you are accountable. You are a human priestess, not an outsider. And most of your followers are yet more worldly than you. To them you also have duty." Melinda stares through a calculated frown. "Remember that, lest the 'victories' you choose for your faithful be empty in all but the pure and spiritual sense. And I intend to make them empty, if you persist in getting in my way, or those of my sisters."

Our message was nothing of the sort. Our message was much simpler. The "protection" of her goddesses is nothing. We can, and others can, whenever they want, snuff out her life like that. And if she continues the course she is on, that will be her fate.

"Well, in that happy spirit, I would like to resolve a matter of personal satisfaction cleanly," Melinda baits, getting a petulant smile on her face. "I'm billing you - again, you personally, Carlita, since you admit you were the one who ordered the hit - twenty-six mithril and fifty-three platinum of expenses incurred as a direct result of your unsolicited and unorthodox didactic methods. Since you're such an upstanding lady within this community, I expect the payment to be made within a week to my accounts at the church of Alatia without much difficulty. I assure you it will go to a good cause. Wouldn't you agree this is reasonable?"

[lostsole31]

Drisae, muttering under her breath and starting to spoil for a fight, "Please say no, please say no, please say no..."

[Debbie_D]

Carlita looks like she is ready to explode, she is so mad. However, it passes quickly and she calms herself. Without blinking an eye, she reaches into one of the pouches on her robe, and takes out a single copper coin. She tosses it disdainfully on the ground so that it lands at Melinda's feet. Without another word, she turns her back on the party and starts to walk back into the temple, as the guards slowly form up behind her, back into their guard positions.

[Kalirren]

"Eight percent interest compounds month-lyyyy..." Melinda taunts in singsong, pointing her left index finger at the retreating Carlita. "Remember that every time you bleed..."

She smirks, and with a twitch of that finger, sends a magical message that chases after the Silescian priestess which she speaks privately, not quite under her breath. The guards probably don't hear it, but her friends do. "Oh, you hate me now, don't you?" her words appear in Carlita's mind. "That's such a luscious, powerful emotion. Go on, torture me in your mind. Fantasize about the day you'll have me chained and relish my screams as I beg for your mercy. And when I eventually do beg for death, when I want you to use that knife on my little throat, you won't, because death's too good for a perverted slut like me. That would be escape.

"No, you want me to suffer. You want me on your terms.

"Admit it, carissima Carlita mia - You want me."

The full force of Melinda's voice-magic gets transferred through that tiny little connection. Attached to those singular three words is a glimpse of a whole world of emotions pure and perverted, everything from the personal delightfulness of a charm, through the inspired obsession of a quest, to the lustful tunnel vision of insanity.

"So come and get me, ...coward."

Melinda calmly pockets Carlita's coin. It would be a useful scrying implement.

[If she doesn't come charging out for blood in the next fifteen seconds...]

"Well, I guess that's that," Melinda says, a slight bit disappointed herself. "I'm sorry she didn't take the bait, Tali," she offers as she's walking down the temple steps. "I thought I could hook her for sure. To Glendira's temple, I think. Don't want to leave them out by going to Ailena first. Did Atareth go far...?"

[Toliudar]

Dot

As Melinda steps forward to pocket the coin, Dot grimaces. Might as well try to turn this crapstorm to their advantage.

"Excuse me, Miss Frostythighs? I might as well make use of this city's quaint, quaint laws and Challenge You.

"But I understand that such things aren't usually to the death, so I'll make this more interesting for you. If you accept the challenge and win, you have my blessing to kill me. I'll even give you back one of your cute little arrows to do it. But if you accept and lose, then you ally your church with the new church of the three-fold goddess of love for a period of one year. Enough time for you to figure out what this church actually stands for, instead of what you think it stands for.

"Mind you, what do you have to worry about. You are, after all, the living embodiment of victory. How could you possibly lose to a spindly little thing like me?"

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I'm inserting this into the point in Kalirren's post after she finishes her own conversation with Carlita. This is on the assumption that Carlita doesn't take Melinda's bait. If she does, of course, we'll just attack.

[Debbie_D]

I dont know where you got your intel from, but in the civilized portion of this city, we dont have any sort of Challenge laws. We're far more concerned with staying alive against monsters than counting coup. And you can dream on about Silescia ever allying with your whoring bitch. Its not happening.

She continues moving into the temple.

[lostsole31]

"Oh, the f*** with this bitch," comes Drisae's exasperated tele-voice .... and with that, even before her casting ... the party's hand is now forced one way or another.

She begins casting a spell.

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Spellcraft DC 24

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Summon Monster IX

[Toliudar]

Hearing familiar sounds of spellcasting emerge from Drisae, Dot realized that the situation was about to go from tense to significantly more than that.

"Well, if unprovoked assassination attempts are fair game in diplomatic relations, then this should come as no surprise to you."

She gestures faintly, and speaks a single word. A wall of basalt appears behind Carlita, sealing off all visible entrances to the temple. Words pop out of the wall as it forms, shaping the words "We Are Cheating Hypocrites" in letters three feet tall.

Dot immediately begins gesturing again. This time, when she finishes, there is no obvious effect. She nods to Clyde, and the two of them vanish, reappearing on the roof of the temple above Carlita.

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Clyde delays until after Dot's action.

Dot: uses major esoterica to quicken the casting of a wall of stone to seal off the front of the temple, with cosmetic details as indicated. Thickness depends on how big the doors were, but the default will be 6" thick.

Standard action to cast a targeted Greater Dispel Magic on Carlita. Caster level checks as needed: (1d20+20)[32], (1d20+20)[24], (1d20+20)[37], (1d20+20)[23], (1d20+20)[30], (1d20+20)[38], (1d20+20)[37], (1d20+20)[34], (1d20+20)[37], (1d20+20)[25], (1d20+20)[27]. Please let me know what auras, if any, Dot then picks up on Carlita.

Clyde then acts, using a standard action to teleport the two of them up to the roof of the temple, just peering over the edge to take in the battle below (and, hopefully, getting cover from the angle).

If Dot is targeted by any kind of attack before her next action, she'll use an immediate action to cast Greater Mirror Image to get 8 mirror images of herself.

[Telasi]

Taleira Ulharvyth

Taleira springs forward as soon as she hears the conjuration, pulling Dancer free in the bare moment it takes her to cross the distance. A vicious slash at Carlita flows into Tali's counterstriking stance, daring the guards to retaliate.

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Charge, power attack -10/+20. Karmic Strike active, AC 51 after adjustment.

Attack 1
Hit: (1d20+25)[7](32) vs. AC, threat range 15-20.
Damage: (2d4+37)[41] (adamantine) + (1d6)[5] Vampiric
Critical: (1d20+25)[33], (2d4+37)[41] extra damage.

[Debbie_D]

Drisae sets the battle in motion by beginning a summoning, however, Dot flies into action, setting up a stone barrier at the temple door, and then being carried up to the top of the temple. She casts, trying to bring down any spells that are on Carlita, and by the end of her castings, she sees that there are no more spells on her, although she does have several magic items. At that point, Taleira "arrives" on the scene, and her vicious strike gets through the priestess' defenses, dealing her 46 points of damage.

Waiting on: Melinda, Atareth

[Kalirren]

Drisae, what's going on...? Melinda's presumption on receiving the drow's tepe was to expect a second assassin. Her reaction is to quicken the pace at which she hustles down the stairs.

She spares a glance to check on her friends, but the glance turns into a full turn when she sees they haven't followed at all. "Tali!" she cries, not seeing Dot. "Oh, no." The look of dread on Melinda's face is apparent as Melinda sees through her friend's signature trapped stance.

The bardess clenches her teeth. This wasn't what she had envisioned at all. "Captain! Run!" she implores. "Just run! or she'll slay you all...!"

[Mass suggestion, Will DC 34, and perhaps an hastened intimidate check of (1d20+19)[34]]

[Debbie_D]

The 4 guards were probably ready to run anyway at the display of swordplay by Taleira, but Melinda's spell makes sure it happens. All of them break into a run, scattered out into the city.

Atareth left.

[PSinger]

Atareth flies over Sword as they return to the battle to assess what's happening. Atareth has Targe-Wrecker out and Captain Arborea readied.

She directs Sword to stay with the group, but she flies over the wall to look down at Tal and Carlita.

[Toliudar]

Zippy and Tasha, surprise round

Trotting up the steps, Zippy wiggles his nose and smiles at Carlita.

"More death. Yummy."

Tasha pulls out Korash's bow. With a grim smile, she plucks one of Korash's arrows from the quiver. Would the universe be so kind as to provide so perfect an irony, to have one of the assassin's own arrows return to strike her in the heart? Let's see.

Smoothly drawing back the shaft, Tasha lets fly at Carlita.

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Zippy moves close enough to the top of the steps so that Tali, Dot and Clyde are included in the effects. He then uses his Cloak of Chaos SLA.

Tasha moves to have a clear shot, and fires one of the arrows of human slaying at Carlita.

Attack vs flat footed AC: (1d20+20)[36] Damage: (1d8+1)[4]. Fort save DC 27.

[Debbie_D]

The arrow flies true and pierces Carlita in the side, but she is able to fight off the killing effect of its magic.

[Kalirren]

Melinda had already made up her mind to kill Carlita - the bardess would have only preferred an occassion more private, or perhaps just cleaner. Yet hesitation still flared, and for the briefest moment she had wondered if she should let Carlita run. Seeing Tali move, and her blade move with her, made that flare flicker and die inside Melinda's heart. They had wasted enough time and enough words already. A woman who sent a minion to die like a dog deserved to die like one herself. If she, unlike Korash, hadn't prepared poison for herself to make it painless, then all the worse for her.

The thought flitted through Melinda's head self-mockingly about how disturbingly easy it was to have proceeded to an act of outright murder once the "innocents" were out of the way.

Funny how rationalizations worked, contemplated her conscience. Meanwhile, her hands moved, and her voice quivered.

[Insanity. Will 35 negates.]

"Let's put your theology to the test, shall we?" she jabs. "If she beats you here, do you go to hell instead of heaven?"