[Nexus] Temples of Dalachrech I

[Morty]

[Elezibethele's Room]

Wenomir is forced back again as he has to dodge the black javelin. He quickly assesses the situation as soon as he's safe again.
He probably can't kill Elezibethele or her pet demon. At least, not quickly enough. And even if he kills the priestess, her demon will carry her and the slave away. She might or might not be ressurected somehow, but the slave will stay in chains either way. Unless...
Wenomir rushes forward, but instead of attacking Elezibethele or Percy, he tries to cut the chain holding Mine as they attempt to escape.

[Earl of Purple]

Elezibethele's Room

Mine's chain is broken and he flops to the floor, unresponsive. "Fool! He's bleeding to death, and you can't heal him! With you, he dies, with me, he might yet live!" However, if Percy takes off it's unlikely that Elezibethele gets to take Mine with them.

Way back when the fight started, I said that Elezibethele drew her sword across his neck, slicing the artery in his neck but deliberately not the windpipe. She was hoping that it would keep him out of the way long enough for Elezibethele to beat Wenomir. Afterwards, Elezibethele would have healed him. Should Wenomir defeat Elezibethele, then Mine would have been bleeding to death with little Wenomir could do to heal him. Although there's still some potions in the bedside cabinet, it's up to the Alexandrian to determine whether or not Mine lives.

[Murkus]

Elezibethele's Room

Unless Elezibethele stops him physically - which is unlikely - Percival will grab hold of her heedlessly and leap out into empty space. Let the slave die. He will not risk the Mistress of their hermitage.

A pair of beautiful wings burst from the demon's back in a spray of black blood. Percy takes a couple flaps and curves around the hermitage in a arc, glancing at Elezibethele. Wind whistles past their faces. "Where should I go, Mistress?" They could always re-enter the temple and alert the guards.

[Morty]

[Elezibethele's Room]

Wenomir doesn't watch the priestess and the demon leave. They'll get their due one day; Watchtower will need to put this whole cult in its place. For now, he grabs a potion from Elezibethele's stash and tries to pour it down Mine's throad before the slave dies.

[Earl of Purple]

Outside The Hermitage- Sky

"Every temple has several back up locations. Now we've been attacked, we'll start the process of moving everything to our first one. If they want to attack us again, they'll have to find us again, and our next location won't be a castle. It's an old mine, I'll show you where it is. Tomorrow, when we're sure they're gone, we'll go back and save what we can, booby trap the place and abandon it." Elezibethele will give directions.

Perhaps the group on the ground see them.

[The Alexandrian]

Underside Temple

"Spiders don't have very good eyesight. Whilst the spiderlings are young and small, their mother won't eat to prevent her eating her children by accident. So she survives off her last meal- their father. Meanwhile, the eggs are healthy and plentiful, as the mother has lots of protein and other nutrients available to produce viable eggs. Thus, their father's death ensures that whilst at their most vulnerable the offspring are protected by their mother and unlikely to be eaten, whilst their number is large to maximise survival later on, again assured by their father's death." Few spiders look after their young, but some do. Wolf spiders carry them on their backs whilst they hunt, but the father's death ensured the wolf spider was there for the hatching and didn't eat any as they clambered onto the safe haven of their mother's back. Any that fall off have no chance for survival.

[Underside Temple]

Sylvia quirks her head to the side after intently listening to and mentally reviewing Charynrae's well-worded explanation for her scary cannibalism instinct several times. While she understood everything Charynrae said, it doesn't quite make any sort of sense to her. Not at all. She can't make heads nor tails of it. She just can't. It is too foreign a concept. She can't accept it and therefore cannot break it down into its constituent pieces and evaluate each piece separately for merit and meaning.

"Ssso, sssss, you can't sssee me? How can you dissstinguisssh between me and One and Two, then? What you need isss glassssesss. Then you won't have to eat your partner in cassse you ever mate with a male because you'll be able to sssee and continue to intake real food unimpeded!"

Sylvia is fairly sure that glasses are the answer to Charynrae's desire to devour her loved ones! Plus, if Charynrae can see the world more clearly, the surface will look even more spectacular to her when they finally are able to take their vacation up there!

-------
[Hermitage of Dalachrech - Outside of the Hermitage]

The plainly distressed and freshly estranged Object and Slave watch Brand disgorge with sheer shock. That's no good! Their poor new master Brand is sick! Aww! What a wretched, lamentable state of health to be in for a slave raid! The new master needs comfort and care!

Slave and Object attempt to rush up to Brand and check him over to ensure that he is alright. Slave attempts to softly rub and pat his back for good measure. Seeing as Brand is a halfling and Slave and Object are both teenage human girls, they'll probably have to kneel to administer this conventional treatment, I'd imagine. I guess that they suddenly care about his safety and welfare now that they think he possesses them and all.

-------
[Hermitage of Dalachrech - Elezibethele's Chamber]

Mine should be dead. He really should. That icicle blade and that treacherous priestess slit his throat pages ago. Even with the frozen blood barrier he's still had more than the sufficient time period requisite for bleeding out. Then again, it'd hardly be fair to declare him dead on the first post I made for him in such a very long time.

Mine lives on! For this post, at the very least. He's lost ounce upon ounce of blood by now, however, and has survived through the benevolence of the phenomenon that medical professionals would classify as a miracle. [LamePun]By applying intense pressure to his throat, he managed to avoid bleeding out by the skin of his neck.[/LamePun] Now that his throat wound has closed up thanks to Wenomir's timely intervention, though it persists in tormenting him like nothing else due to the nature of the potion, he's somewhat stable. His body has been depleted of most of its fluids and without a speedy blood transfusion (artificial or otherwise), he'll perish within the hour, probably.

At least that's an hour more than he would have live without the potion!

[Morty]

[Elezibethele's Room]

Wenomir tries to pick up Mine's limp body, drape him across his back and carry him out. There's no time to waste.

[The Alexandrian]

[Elezibethele's Room]

Indeed! Mine is in no condition to prevent Wenomir from toting him wherever his heart should desire! Wenomir may transport Mine wherever he wants, for now!

[Earl of Purple]

Underside Temple

"Of course I can see you. I can see you perfectly, and you're very beautiful. I'm not a spider; only part-spider. But I wasn't born part spider, so the arachnid instincts battle against my elfoid higher brain functions and reasoning capabilities. I eat males after mating with them because I don't have a choice, and glasses won't help. I don't really have the digestive system suited to devouring raw meat; best I can do is kill it, bloat myself and vomit." I nearly chose 'humanoid', then thought 'no, she's not human, so she wouldn't use that word'.

[The Alexandrian]

[Underside Temple]

Man, this is one unshakable quandary! And one with new twists too! It's analogous to spying on a drama unfolding before one's very own eyes. 'Tis less than comforting that she and Charynrae must be tied up in it, but what can you do?

"Maybe if you ssstuff yourssself with food before you mate you won't be hungry becaussse your body won't be able to accommodate for more?"

Sylvia advises, undeterred despite her recent failure. She'll do everything in her power to loyally aid her beloved Charynrae in overcoming this obstacle to her happiness!

"Maybe thossse inssstinctsss could be isssolated and sssuppressssed with a choice ssspell or two?"

[Shadowcaller]

Outside the Forest

"Give him some space." The elemental tells the girls. The poor halfling had probably never been through any of this before. You really had to be impressed such a small an could possess. Without any eldritch means or even training in martial arts they had saved these people from slavery. It really did give you hope for the people around here.

"Everyone should just relax, we're safe now and you will never get back to that horrible place again."

[UncleWolf]

Outside the Forest

Once they're outside, Waterstrider drops the club he'd been holding. He closes his eyes to try and calm his nerves from what had just happened, but it seems impossible. He wasn't lost in his rage any more, but he felt as if he had gone through it and more. When the collar falls off, he lets out a deep and low growl of anger, only one thought in his mind.

If anyone is watching him, they'll see a hostile glint to his eyes as he walks over to where Brand, Justin, Cessie, and the Slaves are. Once he's there, after the rub has started and the Coke has been passed over, he'll attempt to grab Justin's shoulder with his phantom paw, turn him around and try to hit him in the face with a brutal right cross unless stopped.

It seems the memories of the torture, humiliation, and "enslavement" hurt a lot more than it had seemed at the time.

[OrchestraHc]

Outside the Hermitage

The punch comes as a shock to Justin, so he had no way of stopping it. He lay on the ground for a moment just so he can sort out that half second where everything went painful. He comes to the conclusion that "Waterstrider hit me."

Justin pulls himself up to his knees and stares at Waterstrider for a few seconds. With a warcry of "What the Hell?!", Justin tackles at The wolfen and throws all of his weight at Waterstrider's midsection, trying to bring him to the ground.*

[happyturtle]

Outside the Forest

Brand is wiping his mouth and trying to shrug off the slaves, when he hears Justin yell.

"Stop it! Stop it, both of you!!" he says, his voice not terribly imposing. He considers trying to come between them, but his courage has been rather used up by tonight's adventure.

"Mrs Mithar, please try to stop them," he says to the elemental.


Which reminds me. As it's night-time, the flying duo and the group on the ground are very unlikely to see one another. Unless the elemental is on fire. That might make the group pretty visible.

[The Alexandrian]

[Outside of the Hermitage?]

Has the group of ex-slaves and slave rescuers forged back on through the spider-infested darkness of the Hermitage exterior as of yet?

Either way, it shouldn't be too difficult for Brand to shrug off the slaves attempting to lend him a helping hand, and failing horribly by the looks of it! If he (or any other member of the group) shows any sign of disliking any of their actions, they'll shrink away into the background submissively until they feel that their recent "misbehavior" has been forgotten and they themselves have been overlooked for the moment, for the most part.

They back away from the conflict the second that it erupts, attempting to run over to and cower behind Cessie, as she is the kind fiery lady of the party. They are frightened by this struggle, not knowing whether this whole "you are your own masters" promise was a ruse. Perhaps they are under the impression that the two males might be clashing over the "property" they just now acquired. Regardless, hiding commences.

[Shadowcaller]

Forests outside the hermitage

They have left the hermitage behind some time ago. They are even past the forest now.

The fire elemental have lessened it's glow to the point that it looks like glowing coal rather than fire. But suddenly the elemental flares up in a blaze as it walks up to Justin and Waterstrider. "STOP IT!" She roars as her humanoid form gains wicked claws and red glowing eyes.

This display might cause someone to see them however.

[UncleWolf]

Outside the Hermitage

As soon as Brand tells them to stop, Waterstrider ceases in his attack. Even so, he keeps up a threatening look and growls. Justin might find it surprisingly easy to tackle the rather tall and powerfully built Wolfen as Waterstrider lets him take himself down. The Wolfen growls and snarls, swiping his sharp claws through the air near Justin's ear, as if he was trying to tear it off, but he's careful enough to avoid it. <Come on and hit me!> He shouts in Wolfen, the language making it sound like a series of aggressive snarls.

Waterstrider had been humiliated and tortured through the entire mission, unable to even keep the scars from the lashings as a sign of honor. As angered as it made him, the pain of the humiliation of having to wear a collar hurt deeper. By hitting Justin, he hoped the man would respond in like, allowing his body to hurt so his soul could feel better.

Not even Cessie's daunting presence will keep him from snarling.

[OrchestraHc]

Outside Hermitage Forest (probably)

(Earl has said we've passed up the forest.)

He doesn't really care that Waterstrider went down so easy. The second they hit the ground Justin tries to get on Waterstrider's chest and immediately tries to get his hands around Strider's neck. He initially ignores Brand's plea, but bothers to turn his head at Cessie's attempt. Angrily, he pushes himself off of Waterstrider and gets up. "@#$! it! Whatever! We've been here too long anyway!" he yells throwing his hands up in anger. "Are we going to Watch or GLoG?"

[happyturtle]

Outside the Hermitage Forest

"GLoG is better equipped to take care of refugees," Brand says. He knows he should say more, try to figure out what is going on, why his two friends suddenly started fighting, act as a peacemaker. But what if one of them turns on him?

He's afraid. More afraid than he was even in the temple, because he couldn't afford to think about what could go wrong. Now he has all the fear of what could have happened back at the temple running through his mind, as well as what could be about to happen here.

And one more fear, worse than the other two: what could have happened to his children, if they'd been sold away from him and raised in slavery. He can hardly bear to look at the rescued slaves, because each of them is someone's son or daughter.

[The Alexandrian]

[Outside of the Hermitage Forest]

Oh gods! Everything is going to heck in a handbasket! The wolfman appears, to Object and Slave, to have gone feral and attacked the regular-ish man of the group. The fiery lady went all flame on too. And then the regular-ish man retaliated.

But it looks like they might've broken up the clash successfully, with both fighters retreating to their respective corners.

It probably doesn't benefit anyone that Object and Slave are huddled together absolutely petrified by the infighting. This power contest is more along the lines of something they'd expect from a slave caravan bickering over cuts of profit than a detachment of heroes, even though slavers wouldn't willingly brave crashing Elezibethele's party for a handful of slaves...

Unless... Unless this outside world really is as much of a wasteland as they were led to believe.

[Murkus]

Outside the Hermitage - Sky

Percival nods - thinking they can pick up Eericka the following day with all of the other minions - and zooms off toward the mines. He tries to avoid catching attention from the group below - that fire elemental could likely pull off some dangerous anti-air maneuvers.

[Zefir]

Inside Temple of Dalachrech

A hard knocking could be heared at the main door. It sounds like someone is throwing big stones against it. Maybe someone should open the door.

[Shadowcaller]

[Outside of the Hermitage Forest]

The sorceress glares angrily at Waterstrider, there probably was some reason he acted like this but she didn't want to speculate on them at the moment. Now everyone needed to get to safety, that's what all this had been about after all.

"Follow me if you please and don't do that again." She tells the two before escorting the group to GloG.

[UncleWolf]

Outside the Hermitage

Waterstrider will actually give Justin a thankful look when his hands grip his throat, but it's fleeting and likely missed when he gets off the Wolfen. Once it's done, Waterstrider gets up quietly and tries to scoop up Brand into a tight hug, giving Cessie a small nod before following everyone in silence.

[happyturtle]

Outside the Forest >> GLoG

Brand clings to Waterstrider tightly, and the group moves to GLoG.

[Earl of Purple]

Inside Temple

The door is opened by a man with brown hair and eyes and a plain-looking face. He's wearing a suit of chainmail with a red tabard emblazoned with a black two-tailed scorpion sigil. Regardless of what he sees, he'll reply quite calmly. "Yes? How can I help you?"

Underside Temple

"Magic won't help rule my instincts; only surface thought and memory can be altered, not subconscious things like instincts and ingrained knowledge. As for gorging myself beforehand, well, then I wouldn't be in the mood afterwards; I'd be too full. However, with you I can control my urges; they aren't as strong when I sleep with women as when I sleep with men." Charynrae neglects to mention that shortly after she became a drider she ate her long-time girlfriend who ran away to see her. Though, Charynrae did have some idea of what she was doing and knew that the girlfriend had betrayed her.

[Zefir]

Inside Temple of Dalachrech

Well. The first thing he will see is the string of a stone Scorpion. Remembering that you know him I hope futher description isn't needed.

"Hello. One of your emplyees wanted me to visit here."

[Earl of Purple]

Inside Temple of Dalachrech

"Really? Can you remember which one? And technically, we aren't anybody's employees, as our calling is spiritual rather than financial." Destur, the person whom Tovpir already met, is a gnome with a large nose and a habit of wearing brightly coloured, often clashing, clothing, in particular a purple cloak with a fringe of yellow tassels. He's also engaged to get married to Jorje, the cleric who has answered the door here.

[Zefir]

Inside Temple of Dalachrech

The tail goes down to the size of the gnome.

"He was that size. I was told it could be a halfling or such."

Tovpir wasn't really in the position to remember more since he was threatend by a Goblind with a shrink gun.

[Earl of Purple]

Inside Temple of Dalachrech

"Really? Wow, what are the chances? Pretty good, actually, since it wasn't me and Narahar's dead, which leaves only three possibilities. Anyway, the person to whom you refer is my boyfriend, Destur Spritesson, and he's a gnome, not a halfling. Would you like to come in? I'm sure I'd be able to alter your size, though only with your consent." The clerics are used to some of the parish being less-than-humanoid and offended by imagining they aren't normal due to extra arms, excessive height, and so on. Therefore, they are always certain to suggest such things whilst making it clear that it is far from compulsory, or even sometimes convenient.