WotW: Call Forth Darkness IC

[Comissar]

A look of sheer relief appeared on Quint's face as Il'Tara's body began to reassemble itself. As soon as she started to draw breath again, he walked quickly over to her.

"Það er gott að sjá þig á lífi aftur." Il'Tara looked up at him, slowly getting her bearings back, "Ég er þér því miður þurfti að vera-"

"Þú grimmur skrímsli."

Quint straightened up again, taking a step back in surprise. Il'Tara rose to follow, "Það er ekki nóg að ég deyja einu sinni fyrir málstað sem er ekki mitt eigið, koma þér mig aftur bara svo þú getur gert mig deyja aftur? Ert þú ekki þora held ég skulda þér neitt."

With that, the Ifrit stormed out of the room.

"Il'Tara..."

For those that understand Ignan:

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"It is good to see you alive again. I am sorry you had to be-"

"You cruel monster."

"It is not enough that I die once for a cause that is not my own, you bring me back just so you can make me die again? Don't you dare think I owe you anything."

[Thattaman]

Kydrak approaches the now alive Caldrel and pulls him up to his feet, then hands him his longsword and sheild. "I have brought you back with a bargain from a contract devil. Before I go into the details, what was it like: Hell?"

"It was beautiful. The ground was made of hot embers, but I could not feel pain, just satsfaction. I was approaching Asmodeous when he said "It is not your time, you still have to finish the work you started!" Then I awoke and the burning hatred in my heart is stronget than before!"

"But your life came at a price, we must go to the Mitran temple in Farholde and retreive a stolen relic of a devil prince."

"Then those Mitran heretics shall burn in the deepest parts of hell and we shall take back what is rightfully ours!"

[Cloudsmeet]

Kin stands, watching events unfold around him, in something of a daze. He sees his spell rip apart Van, the shock that he'd unintentionally hurt... not quite a friend, not quite a colleague, but an ally. His tongue fails to make his usual glib comment, and his father's voice speaks to him, welcoming him home, telling him like father like son and he will not - no, he cannot admit that maybe the voice is right. I can trust them, Father, they can trust me! he screams mentally, directing the sound inwardly. On the outside, he watches as Hal stares in horror at the body of the woman that Kin has murdered, and the voice inside his head begins to mock him once again.

He is silent and still while Harkon escapes, fearful that if he moves his allies might suddenly realise what he has done and turn on him, their voices rising in anger, in bright red calls for justice. Finally, as the contracts are signed and the devil disappears, he manages to force out a few words, although they sound weak and hollow.

"Well, that was interesting."

A bit of backstory explanation for those who don't know it - it hasn't really come up before:

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For those who can't remember, Kin was basically a magical experiment to his father, his mother never appearing on the scene. Alongside other prisoners he was tortured, analyzed, abused, prodded etc. etc. which is the cause of his scars and the source of his magical tattoos, as well as explaining the fact that technically he's now part-orc, as a matter of fact. Essentially, he escaped while attempting to kill his father (he failed and his dad is still out there somewhere until Maugan brings him in if ever) and as a result he has pretty severe trust issues, leading to him joining a cult in which people swear on their souls that they are bound to deal fairly with the other people who have sworn.

tl;dr Feels betrayed by his father, doesn't want to become the same in that he won't betray someone but he still otherwise has no respect for life as he was brought up constantly seeing it have no meaning.

[Razorstorm]

"My my my..." Victor chided, folding his arms. "Our group is becoming heavily indebted. I'm not sure what you just agreed to, but I'll wager that it was costly and puts us all at risk." He sighs and looks at the newly risen minions. "From the bodies I'm seeing, we dealt a nasty blow to the inquisitor's forces, but he escaped with several companions in good shape. I'm fairly sure he'll return shortly, and surely better prepared. I suggest we move quickly and pursue. I think I can recreate the portal word he used to teleport out of here. I say we round up the boggards and send a few in first, and we quickly follow."

[Maugan Ra]

As agreed, you quickly round up just about everything you have, gathering them in the second floor throne room, which is perhaps the only area large enough to hold everything at once. Hexor has remained at his post, steadfastly refusing to leave the Horn unguarded, especially with his brother absent, but virtually everything else is here as agreed.

Zikomo leads his boggards in an amphibious war cry, shaking the stone around you with the rasping echoes, and almost as a single flabby mass they charge through the teleport circle, vanishing in sequence. Then go Artephius and the skeletons, followed shortly by a long stream of snarling black forms as the Hell Hounds are unleashed.

At last, Hal and Kin take their places aboard Moon the Nightmare and move up to the teleport circle. One sharp command word, and they are... elsewhere.

The room you emerge in appears to be part of some kind of watchtower, a considerable distance from the Horn given the sheer profusion of vibrant greenary you can see outside. There is little time for taking in the sights, as Moon staggers slightly on arrival - unbalanced on the sheer pile of dead bodies clogging up the teleport circle.

All around you, a swirling melee rages between the Inquisitor's forces and your own minions.

[Maugan Ra]

Thus far, it would appear that the Mitrans are winning. The Boggard dead lie in many small piles, inter spaced with ruined skeletons, and fully half of your summoned outsiders appear to have met their ends at the point of holy blades. The rest fight on with savage fury - off to one side, you can see Artephius single-handedly fending off four of the enemy.

Zikomo alone is still standing from the amphibians, barely a few feet from where Hal and Kin arrive. There is a flaming sword impaling the priest through the lungs, and as it is drawn back, Zikomo collapses in a broken pile. Inquisitor Harkon spits on the corpse, and then looks up at the new arrival. His eyes narrow.

"You."

(And I... cannot find the map I just made. Hmm. Will return shortly with confirmation.)

[Angstrom]

Hal was surprised at how little opposition there was to following Harkon. He watched silently from the side of the chapel, trying to think of anything but Van. The Asmodeans' egos must be damaged by being so useless at defending their supposed property. Still, they can't be pleased to see so many of the Horn's defenders being marched to the teleporter on a suicide mission. Now, as the minions stood ready to teleport, Hal could see his tiny familiar bobbing around Kin's head, flashing in and out of invisibility angrily. The memory of Buddy doing the same thing when they first met these wizards seemed a lifetime away.

You, Buddy had singled out Kin, You should consider yourself lucky I haven't taken your soul after what you did. You're coming through with us.

As the tribe of Frogmen prepared to teleport, Hal climbed into Moon's saddle. Buddy floated over and took up a spot above Hal's shoulder. The young evoker mounted up with them. This is it. You ready Eater?

No. Van being ripped apart by the shards of ice played on repeat in the forefront of his consciousness. Tori being led to the pyre... I'm not ready.

Then let's go! Buddy cried as Moon began to trot forward towards the throne.

Panic; Hal's heart leapt into his throat. This really was it. Van, Tori, Harkon; it would all end now. Moon's wings unfurl as her pace increased. It would end. The panic was gone. The world grew quiet as the hurricane of emotion that had been raging in Hal's mind ceased. Survival instinct kicked in as the tempo of Moon's hooves on the stone floor became faster and faster. He readied a spell as the Nightmare began to gallop at the teleporter. This was it. "Vah!"

[Angstrom]

The world blurs for a moment before erupting into total chaos all around.

Hal neck whips around to stare at Harkon as he urges Moon into the air. As Moon gallops out of the fray their gaze stays locked on each other. Buddy quickly locates the inquisitor as well and begins to spit curses in his direction. "You! You had better make peace with your dear and fluffy lord because you die tonight! You hear me Mitran? You die tonight!"

When she reaches the corner, the nightmare rears up on her hind legs and pivots around to face the Mitrans, gouts of flame flaring from her nostrils. As her hooves meet the floor once more, the magical energy Hal clenches in each fist is finally let loose upon the combatants. Six pale coronas encircle the head of the Mitrans as a cloud of tiny rockets zigzag through the air to explode in Harkons face. "Your soul is mine."

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Moon's Smoke cone will go towards the group of four around Artephius (DC17 Fortitude or Sickened for (1d6)[3] minutes. As Obscuring Mist for 1 round. Free action). Moon Withdraws between Hounds 7 and 8 and heads towards the corner (M-N,21-22).

Hal casts Slow (DC18 Will save) on the Hark, Has, Task, Toma, and both Soldiers then fires his Snapdragons at Harkon (DC 16 Reflex, (1d4)[4] fire damage +Daze, -1 to save if he fails against the Slow)

Buddy will use Lesser Confusion on Sol2 (DC12 Will).

[Comissar]

Quint watched as the group left through the portal. He couldn't convince himself that following through would be the wise decision. Even leaving aside how much the last fight had drained him, he simply had no desire to face the Inquisitor again so soon after nearly dying. Instead, he stood back and allowed the other wizards to pass through the portal, wondering whether they'd return.

Deciding that he should still do something to help, he walked over to Kin and said "Díláithriú."

Kin's form flickered, appearing to be in two places at once. He began to walk away after that, all the aid he could give being spent. "I wish you luck."

He went deeper into the Horn, in search of Il'Tara.

[Cloudsmeet]

As Moon began her ride towards the portal, Kin whispers a word of power and armor of ghostly translucence flickers over his body before coming to rest in a shield of pale light upon his left wrist. A flurry of ink on his left shoulder becomes a small winged lizard that, at another word from Kin, spits a gout of fire out into the air in readiness.

The world blurs for a moment before erupting into total chaos all around.

Immediately, the tiny lizard takes wing, raking flame over Harkon. As Hal guides Moon over to one of the far corners, Kin raises a rod in his right hand and out comes one of his signature blasts of fiery destruction, landing on the portal, engulfing Artephius, Harkon, and most of Harkon's allies in a blast of roiling flame.

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Kin casts Shield on himself and shares Fire Sneeze with his familiar as his preparation.

Fire Sneeze:
[roll]2d6+7 - see OOC
DC 12 save to avoid being knocked prone

Heightened (+1) Empowered Fireball, aimed at 16I
(15d6+33)[93], DC 19 for half

[Maugan Ra]

Moon forces her way out of the combat as best she can, breathing stinking clouds of smoke as she withdraws. Harkon, too beset by the hounds to do anything about it, curses and calls out to his men.

"Slay the warlocks! Do not let them bring their unclean magics to bear!" he roars, easily shrugging off the snapping explosion of the firework effect and all but ignoring the cone of fire from Kin's familiar.

The Ifrit barbarian, Hassan, swings his falchion up at Hal, connecting in a spray of blood... that rapidly becomes a prism of shattering light as the mirror image is destroyed by the blow. Kin, however, is not so lucky. The second soldier clearly recognises him from the earlier battle, and with a vengeful look on his face, hooks the blade of his halberd around the Wizard's leg and pulls. Kin finds himself dumped on the ground, and takes 1 point of damage as a wickedly sharp caltrop digs into the flesh of his leg.

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Making a Withdraw action means the first square you leave isn't considered threatened. In this case, that means Harkon doesn't get to make an attack of opportunity. The second soldier, who passed his save against Buddy's Lesser Confusion, does. And you can make a combat maneuver in place of an attack, explicitly including attacks of opportunity.

I will allow Kin to redefine his actions this turn in light of the new information. He is, however, prone in J16 and can only move at half speed, even once he gets up, because of the caltrop. Hal and the Nightmare are in their intended positions now, though.

[Cloudsmeet]

Kin grunts as he hits the floor, the pain made worse by the hook of the halberd round his leg and the caltrops that pierce his skin. He skitters backwards, before a word and a gesture - while he is still prone - render him invisible to the naked eye.

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Kin takes a 5ft step towards J17 before casting Vanish on himself. I couldn't find anything in 5ft step or prone that said he couldn't take a five foot step while prone, so... if otherwise, I might have to rejig this turn again.

[Maugan Ra]

Helping me keep track, mostly...

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Harkon: 51/59 (+2 AC, magic circle)
Soldier 1: 63/63 (+2 AC, magic circle)
Soldier 2: 59/63 (+2 AC)
Vyte: 52/52 (+2 AC, magic circle)
Tomas: 45/45 (+2 AC, Slowed)
Taskar: 38/38 (+2 AC, Slowed)
Treya: 38/38
Hassan: 53/80(+2 AC, magic circle)
Posca: 38/38 (+2 AC)

Hell Hounds: AC16, trip CMD 20
H7: 02/30
H8: 10/30
H10 30/30
Artephius: 69/96, AC23

"My soul is my own, Daemon! And while I might yet die, I shall meet my lord with head held high, knowing that I sent many foes to the pyre first! " Harkon yells back at Buddy and Hal. One of the Hell-Hounds leaps up and slashes at the Inquisitor's arm, drawing blood, a second before Brother Vyte flanks it and smashes a morning star into it's exposed flank. The fiendish beast crumples with a whimper, and Harkon uses the moment's grace to spin and neatly decapitate one of it's packmates, while the soldier assisting him continues dueling a third, badly wounding it.

The small group fighting Artephius continues to struggle against the alchemical killer, even as their hold their breathes to avoid the stinking clouds of Moon's otherworldly breath. Growling, Hassan and the other soldier both momentarily switch their attention to the hound clawing at their flank, hacking it apart with halberd and falchion, even as Artephius smashes a powerful blow into the Ifrit's momentarily exposed back. Taskar and Tomas, the two rogues visibly slowed by Hal's spell, continue pressing the assault against the mechanical killer, but remain unable to find a vulnerable spot.

Finally, Treya leans around the corner of the doorway that she is occupying and sights the flickering mirages that hide the precise location of Hal and his otherworldly steed. With a shrug, she settles for simply covering the entire location in fire, flicking a burning pearl of energy towards them that explodes into roaring energy. Hal, Buddy and Moon all suffer 29 points of fire damage, reflex DC19 for half.

It is into this scene that Kydrak and Caldrel arrive, on the back of their own steed, as the next round begins.

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Kydrak, Caldrel, Hal and Kin may all take their actions now. I've updated the map, though I can't find an easy way to remove colours from a mobile device, so you'll have to make do with text.

[Cloudsmeet]

Kin stands and turns towards the golem and his assailants and grins, invisibly. A word of power and he flashes back into sight, a storm of fire landing amidst the combatants, close enough to singe Kin, Kydrak and Caldrel's eyebrows but otherwise leave them untouched. Kin's scaly familiar swoops back past Harkon and lets out a belch of scorching flame on the way through, landing back on his shoulder.

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Empowered Heightened (+1) Fireball:
Damage: (15d6+33)[84], DC19 reflex for half.

Aimed roughly where it would originally have been that first time, hitting all the people around Artephius as well as the guy up in G14 if I can reach, but not touching Kydrak, Caldrel or Kin.

Fire Sneeze:
(2d6+7)[19]
DC 12 Fort to avoid being knocked prone.

Someone is going to fail that fort check at some point, and I will laugh uproariously.

[Angstrom]

Damn that witch.

"You shall not glimpse your god's realm Matthias! Your soul goes to Abaddon!" Hal focuses the fountain of sparks in his hand into a orb the size of his head. As soon as Buddy establishes communication with the half-elves he alerts the Asmodeans. Here comes the flash! echoes in their minds as he hurls the spiralling missile at Harkon.

After the detonation, Hal calls out "C'mon, we've got to get opposite that caster. Yah!" and sets Moon in motion. Let her try. he calls to Moon, If she succumbs we may fool her.

Moon begins to head around the flank of the Mitrans, rapidly impacting the pavement to feign speed. She makes a show of it, tossing her mane of fire wildly, staring at the half-orc with burning eyes, then enveloping the pair of rogues in a cloud of ash.

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Hal's bluff ([roll]1d20+10[roll]) is basically to try and throw off Treya's aim. Only relevant if she fails her save against the pyrotechnics.

Pyrotechnics on the Snapdragon (at Harkon).
DC17 Will save or Blinded for (1d4+1)[5] rounds.
DC16 Reflex or (1d4)[2] fire damage and dazed.
(Hal will prepare to drop down Moon's flank for cover as an immediate action if Treya targets them again)

Buddy uses Lesser Confusion on Soldier 2. DC12

Moon moves to i-j, 21-22. Intimidate on Taskar [roll]1d20+10[roll] vs DC 10+HD+wis. Smoke on both rogues: DC17 Fortitude or Sickened for (1d6)[6] minutes. As Obscuring Mist for 1 round.

[Thattaman]

Kydrak casts enough spells to protect him and his brother before mounting Xaphan and teleporting into the battle. They fly above and away from the centre of the battle and next to Harkon (J13, J12, K13, K120, both he and Caldrel slash twice at him, while Xaphan bites him twice, they then fly away before he can attack back to (E11, E10, F11, F10)

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Caldrel's Attack (1d20+13)[19] (1d20+13)[29] Damage (1d8+7)[15] (1d8+7)[10]
Kydrak's Attack (1d20+10)[25] (1d20+10)[14] Damage (1d8+6)[13] (1d8+6)[7]
Xaphan's Bite: (1d20+10)[29] (1d20+10)[24] Damage (1d4+4)[5] (1d4+4)[5]

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Kydrak's spell list:
1st: Mage Armour x2
Summon Monster I
Enlarge Person
Expeditious Retreat
Sleep
+Magic Weapon

2nd:
[S]Bull's Strength[/S
]Fire Breath
Bear's Endurance
Summon Monster II
+Bull's Strength

3rd:
Haste
Fly
Slow
+Fireball

4th:
Elemental Body I
Beast Shape II
+Extended Haste

[Maugan Ra]

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Some quick results of actions, again mostly to help me keep track:
Taskar and Tomas both pass reflex against the fireball, with evasion they emerge unharmed.
Hassan fails his reflex save, and even with the Ifrit's natural Resistence to fire, is utterly obliterated. Ouch.
Soldier 1 passes his save, but is still knocked down to 21/63 HP.
Treya just passes her save to avoid being blinded.
Harkon passes his save against the snapdragon, both dazing and blinding. Soldier 2, however, botches his save and is in fact now confused.
Hilariously, Harkon fails his save against the Fire Sneeze, and is now prone on 32/59 HP. And because being prone actually reduces one's armour class, he is actually knocked down below 0HP by those Melee attacks.

The massive conflagration consumes the small group fighting Artephius, visibly blasting the Ifrit into several discrete chunks. The Inquisitorial soldier at his side staggers under the impact... and is not given a chance to recover, as the Golem slams a brazen hand through his chest and clear out his back.

Inquisitor Harkon looks like he intends to say something here, but he does not get the chance. Kin's familiar knocks him sprawling with a gout of fire, and before he can relax, the half-elven brothers are upon him. As their swords pin him to the ground, even the Inquisitor's legendary willpower gives out and he passes out cold.

Seeing this, Treya DeMarco curses virulently in some foreign tongue, before switching back to Common. "Raiders! That's our paycheck gone, we're out of here!" Saying that, she turns and vanishes into the room behind her. Across the chamber, Posca the Dwarven cleric turns and runs into another of the rooms, armour clanking as he curses to himself in Undercommon. Tomas the human rogue glances over at where Harkon has fallen, smiles viciously to himself, and legs it, squeezing nimbly through the bars of the portcullis and out into the jungle beyond.

Taskar the Half-Orc looks up at the wizard mounted on fiendish steed right in front of him, then glances over his shoulder at the alchemical golem presently tearing an armoured soldier in half. Clearly not much fancying his chances, he drops his dagger to the floor and raises his dark green hands in the air. "Ah... I surrender?" he says hesitantly, before a quick gleam comes into his eyes. "You let me live, and I let you know who sold you out to the Inquisition. Yeah."

Brother Vyte desperately try's to reach Inquisitor Harkon and heal him, but in all likelihood, doesn't get very far.

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And... dropping out of combat. OK, sure, we could keep going for a round or two, but it's basically over. Mostly because the majority of the remaining enemies are mercenaries who've just seen their employer fall.

[Angstrom]

"Cooperate and we have a deal. But what say you Mitran?" Hal asks as his gaze settles on Vyte, "Will you admit that this battle is over? Will you let yourself be taken to our lair? Will you bide your time and wait patiently for a chance to escape? Or shall these brothers make a martyr out of you? I guarantee they'll enjoy it."

We cannot let the survivors regroup. Kin, Kydrak, please do not let them escape.

A whip of crackling white energy erupts in Hal's hand as he dismounts. Sparks fly as it cracks through the air and wraps around Harkon's neck even as a wand springs into his hand. "Come now, Matthias, death is too easy. You do not fear the Boneyard; your punishment must be more severe."

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Out comes the wand of CLW to bring Harkon back from the brink once the limp lash has paralyzed his body. UMD with luck bonus against DC20, (1d20+15)[21], (1d8+1)[3]

[Maugan Ra]

Vyte's hand tightens around the handle of his Morningstar. The expression on his youthful face is resolute. "Yield not before the evil-doer. Give him not an inch of ground, nor listen to the words he speaks. Give him only death."

With a last, furious yell, the young cleric of Mitra lunges forwards into a valiant charge, straight towards Hal. He's barely taken more than a couple of steps before a glittering dagger comes hurling through the air and slams into his forehead with a sickening crunch.

Behind you, Taskar Twelve-Knives coughs and spreads his hands. "See? Cooperating."

"Halifax... Eater." Harkon says slowly from the floor, pushing past the paralysis to give voice to his words. "I hope you know... how much your little friends... screamed when I lit the pyre. How much they... suffered, because of your weakness."

[Angstrom]

"I do not know, Matthias. I am only able to imagine what they felt; but you, you're about to find out."

[Maugan Ra]

The Inquisitor smiles, revealing blood-stained teeth. "Do you think I'm afraid, Halifax?" he says, with some degree of difficulty. "My life had meaning. Nothing you do will change that. But you... You have nothing. Your friends are dead... your family are gone... And now you prostitute your very faith to devil-worshippers. What do you have left, that this world has not taken from you?"

He laughs, painfully. "You have nothing, Halifax Eater. You are nothing."

[Thattaman]

Kydrak transforms his hand into claws and grabs Harkon, avoiding killing him. He forces his head to face him, "Are you afraid now, me and my brother just killed you once and we can do it again, but now you're alive again, you're ging to wish you were dead. I tortured my own father to death. The most honourable man in Kyonin wept for mercy, but since then I've learnt more painful and less lethal techniques. I can hav you screaming for mercy within minutes. And when you say his friends are dead, you seem to forget the person who is hoping to torture him to death. There's more back home, all his nice little friends, you can meet them if you want to. Maybe you could spend an hour or so in their company? This world has given him a purpose, and you are obstructing that purpose. Now, apologise. Keep your honour and apologise for what you've said!" Caldrel keeps Harkon pinned down on Xaphan while Kydrak is saying this.

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I'm using battleshape to grow the claws.

[Maugan Ra]

Harkon spits in Kydrak's face. "Rot in hell, elf. Spare me from having to listen to your raving insanity."

[Angstrom]

The Inquisitor smiles, revealing blood-stained teeth. "Do you think I'm afraid, Halifax?" he says, with some degree of difficulty. "My life had meaning. Nothing you do will change that. But you... You have nothing. Your friends are dead... your family are gone... And now you prostitute your very faith to devil-worshippers. What do you have left, that this world has not taken from you?"

He laughs, painfully. "You have nothing, Halifax Eater. You are nothing."

"I know you don't fear death, Matthias. There is nothing that can be done to make you feel otherwise."

Hal's calm surprised even himself. The threat was gone at last. Harkon was a broken man now, no longer the monster that had haunted his dreams. And now, spitting talk of meaning and purpose, reduced to nothing but his belief, Harkon was nothing. Harkon truly believed what he was saying, and there was no quick way to change belief like that. Impossible for any purpose beyond service to the cause. Family, friendship, and love were all things this man could never understand. As a tool of Mitra, Harkon had no humanity left. All this time it hadn't been a man Hal had lived in fear of, but a weapon.

[Snowfire]

Ilvaria flashes into existence through the teleport circle, her eyes swiftly taking in the current situation and - finding that it has been mostly resolved, turns her steed and sends it at a gallop after the fleeing Sorceress.

[Thattaman]

Kydrak wipes the spit of his face as he punches Harkon twice in the face, then smiles. "Don't spit at me! I ought to cut your tongue off, but then we couldn't interrogate you, so I'll cut of an ear and the fingers on your right hand, I might make you eat them. You call me insane, but I will drive you beyond insanity with pain." Kydrak then starts to cut of Harkon's left ear, taking time to do it and letting all the blood drip out.

[Maugan Ra]

A look of cold satisfaction comes into Harkon's eyes as Kydrak leans in with the knife. "Big mistake, Devil-whore. Shatter." he snarls, and the lash around his throat explodes into pieces. One hand seizes the front of Kydrak's robes, while the other tightens around the hilt of his Longsword, still lying nearby.

"Suffer, you insolent fool." Harkon snarls into Kydrak's face, and slams the burning sword into the wizard's gut, inflicting 24 points of damage.

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And that was the Inquisitor-specific spell, Burst Bonds. Followed by his Cunning Initiative and/or a surprise round to let him get an attack in. That said, Caldrel at the least is now entitled to an Attack of Opportunity, and possibly Hal as well.

[Snowfire]

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Once finished, Ilvaria advises her new ally to make her way to Farholde. Once she was safely back at the Horn, she would have Mira pass along instructions to contact her chosen cover identity and 'bring her into the fold' as it were. Having concluded negotiations to her satisfaction, and with the possibility of more possible allies not known to the rest of the Knot - she might be contract bound to work with them, but having resources your 'allies' didn't know about never hurt - she is quite content with the arrangement.

"I think we can look forward to a long, profitable relationship Treya." She remarks. "I'm glad we could come to terms like reasonable women instead of having to blast each other to death. Makes a rather refreshing change. I'll see you soon."

Returning towards the Horn, the sounds of suddenly re-ignited combat causes her to spur her mount into a full airborne gallop. Hopefully no one ended up dead - that would be frustrating. Or not, depending on the results. She dismissed the thoughts from her mind as her mount touched down for the moment required to pound through the entrance, already rising again into a position from which she could observe and fire off her spells without distraction.

[Thattaman]

As Kydrak gets stabbed, Caldrel swings twice at super fast speeds trying to once again kill the man.

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Attack:(1d20+13)[19] Damage:(1d8+7)[13]
Attack: (1d20+13)[15] (1d8+7)[15]

I could kill him easily from AoO.

[Maugan Ra]

Harkon doesn't even seem to resist, or make the slightest move towards a dodge. He simply smiles faintly as the sword bites into his neck, and he topples over, dead in an instant.

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...which is exactly what he was hoping for, in total. He's basically baited you into killing him, while Buddy is out of the area. Man didn't fancy being a soul gem, but since everything he is forbids him from begging for his life...