Bhaakon's Sword of Valor IC

[Desril]

Lily

She glances toward Roland and nods, "I do, and that's precisely why I have to be the one to do this. No offense, Millia, but you only channel magical power, you don't really know how to properly harness it or keep it under control. I've studied for years and know what I'm doing. And there is no other way. I can count the number of humans capable of calling upon the power we'd need to restore him with one hand. We either get Outside help or we leave him to lose his mind, and I won't let that happen."

Returning her gaze to Nalin, "There are circles that ward against more than just evil and you know it. Angels, demons, devils, inevitables, they all have different ways they can be contained. And if you can create one circle you can learn to create any of them. Aravashniel may only know the spell to ward off evil, but with the power we obtained I can create them all." When he requests that she not, she shakes her head, "There's no other way."

[Vhaidara]

Nalin of the Blackened Soul

The armored man locks eyes with her.
There are MANY other ways you could do this. You just named some of them.
His hand tightens on her shoulder.
If you do this, Lily...I will kill you. To spare everyone what you will become.

[Desril]

Lily

As Nalin tightens his grip, Lily simply glares up at him, determined...and angry "If this is a mistake, it is mine to make...and what gives you the right to decide when I've gone too far? None of us blamed you when you accepted the demon's offer in the Tower of Estrod, and you didn't even hesitate! At least I had the forethought to inform the rest of you in case something goes wrong!"

[Vhaidara]

Nalin of the Blackened Soul

With a roar, Nalin slams Lily against the wall.
I DID WHAT I HAD TO DO TO SAVE THE GIRL'S LIFE.
His breathing is hard as his voice drops
I did what I did to spare two lives. I gave Faxon a quick death, instead of the torture Jerribeth would have inflicted on him. You are just some young, stupid mage looking to try her skills binding a demon. And Aravashniel is just a very convenient excuse. You know demons. even if you do restore him, he won't come out himself. The Aravashniel we know would rather die than accept the aid of a demon.

[Desril]

Lily

Yelping in pain and half collapsing as she connects with the hardwood, the tiefling can't ignore the pain anymore, but still manages to pull herself back up and grimaces through it. "Spare two lives?! Faxon was doomed from the start, it doesn't matter if he skipped stage one of what was going to happen to him when she'll have access to his soul anyway. Did you really think she needed him alive to torture him? And Holly is still a broken shell! She might be alive, but she's a perfect example of what will happen to Aravashniel if we let this continue!"

Wincing, she rubs her shoulder and tries to flap her wings but the left one is stiff and unresponsive. "If Aravahniel would rather die than accept help from a demon then we just won't tell him where the help came from, but don't you dare say that I'm only doing this for the sake of my own pride! Just because you were so weak that you gave in to a life of destruction doesn't mean that the rest of us can't resist what came so naturally to you, General."

[stack]

"It isn't going to happen, even if I have to break the circle and kill the creature myself. Further discussion is a waste."

Spoiler

Show

Roland will ask around to make sure no scrolls are available and set a watch on Lilyif needed

[Frosty]

Millia frowns as her friend is being pushed and thrown around. At this point, she stands in front of Nalin and shouts, "That's ENOUGH! You will not treat your fellow comrade-in-arms in this way. BACK. OFF."

She then turns to Lily, "And YOU! Don't be arrogant and overconfident. We likely CANT control an entity like that right now. My overconfidence in magic is what CAUSED the problem in the first place. No, we will WAIT until we are stronger, and by that time better options will present themselves."

[Sileniy]

Sileniy

This sort of stupidity is exactly the sort of thing he would have done when he was younger - and that's a terrifying thought. Right now though, he is not happy at all that things are escalating so far because she wouldn't back down from her ridiculous idea.
"Lily, I know you've made bad decisions, but I never thought you'd go this far. I've had a friend die because I pulled reckless crap like this. Do not go down this path."

[Ilorin Lorati]

Merjana

As the conversation goes on, Merjana quietly sips a cup of weak, heavily sweetened tea. She was oddly calm considering the conversation in front of her, and that was by no means an act - everything that she might want to do to Lily was currently beiong handled quite well by Nalin, and Lily hasn't made the mistake of doing it without telling people. "Is there a reason why we can't call a Djinn or other good planar being to help us? Our cause is just and Aravahnial, as the situation stands, is important to the continued health of Golarion."

[Desril]

Lily

Slipping out of Nalin's grasp, she continues to glare at him for a moment before ignoring the others and turning to Merjana, her vision starting to blur with a combination of rage and tears. In spite of that, however, she manages to sound...almost calm as she answers, though it's barely constrained fury at Nalin and only as calm as it is because it's a technical explanation. "I didn't plan to call a djinn because I do not channel divine power. What I'm going to do involves creating a magic circle that is diametrically opposed to the entity I conjure. Regardless of whatever deal might be worked out, I am ripping it from wherever it is and trapping it against its will until it does what I say. I have enough trouble justifying doing that to a demon, but with them at least it's a safety precaution."

[Sileniy]

Sileniy

Looks like he was wrong about her. "This would have gone a lot better if you had just said that to begin with." he mutters. "Lily, I would rather see that done to a djinn than see a demon summoned in Kenabres. They're good creatures, you think it's not going to take one look at Aravashnial and immediately understand? No, we'll bring it here against its will, but in return... we'll let it decide what the other wishes are going to be. That's going to be an apology and a half. Is that enough to justify doing this to a djinn?"

Spoiler: ooc

Show

Apparently display of charisma might work here, so that's getting used.

[Desril]

Lily

Turning her attention to the home owner, she seems to actually calm down somewhat now. Though her eyes are still watering, her shoulders slump in resignation and there's less fire in her voice, "I thought it went without saying that I wouldn't want to imprison something like that. Just what sort of person do you think I am?"

Knowing she's about to start sobbing, the tiefling shakes her head and tries to wipe her eyes, "Fine, I'll conjure the djinn tomorrow." Without waiting for an answer to her rhetorical question, she starts to take a step and vanishes, reappearing half-way down the street and quickly walking further away, trying to get to a point where she knows she can warp straight down into the caverns below. Throat constricting and eyes burning as she fights back tears and slowly starts to become a sniffling, weeping mess with every step. They were all idiots, but most of them had good intentions, even if they couldn't think things through or see them from any point of view other than their own with short-sighted knee-jerk reactions. It was Roland, overconfident moron, and Nalin, self-righteous, arrogant, bastard, who does he think he is, that were fueling her current emotional breakdown. Every time her thoughts included one of them, she'd argue with a mental construct of them, which only further served to turn her into a blubbering mess, and by the time she arrived outside of the shrine she'd helped reconsecrate, reconstruct, and redecorate, the tiefling couldn't see more than a few feet in front of herself and was constantly trying to wipe away snot and tears that wouldn't stop leaking, all while her head pounded and ached from an overwhelming mixture of anger and sadness.

In spite of her current state, she manages to drag herself into the shrine and sit down, holding her knees up to her chest and weeping as she silently prays for guidance...and verbally berates herself for being so pathetic.

Spoiler

Show

Dimensional Slide as necessary to reach the shrine ASAP

[Vhaidara]

Nalin of the Blackened Soul

Shortly after Lily leaves, a clang sounds as Nalin's gauntlets fall to the ground. Anyone who looks will see the large man quickly removing his armor and leaving only his gambeson. The process takes a few minutes, but when he's done, he turns to the party, tears streaking his face.
Don't follow me.
And then he exits the building at a dead sprint, moving alarmingly fast.

Spoiler: OoC

Show

Spending a point of Mythic power to charge up Impossible Speed giving Nalin a movement of 70 as he heads for the shrine.

[Bhaakon]

The maralith construct slithers about the shrine with a low whir of well-oiled gears and a a bare scrap of brass on stone, tending and cleaning up the place as diligently as it has been since its creation--though at this point there's little to tend or clean other than Lily's tears, but the construct is wise enough to leave her alone in her prayers.

But she's not alone for long. A scant few minutes after Lily plops down in front of the altar, there's the barest hint of a scratch at the stone door of the old temple. "Lilittttthhhhh. Lilittttttthhhhh" Comes a soft voice from outside.

[Desril]

Lily

She hadn't had time to sort through everything that happened, but the sound of a voice she didn't recognize calling her name here of all places was enough to make her raise her head and look curiously to the door. Sniffling, she shuffles over to the entrance of the shrine and opens the door, "Hello?"

[Bhaakon]

"Hello, Lilittttthhhh." The snake answers--and it is a snake, about three feet long and somehow less than completely substantial. It bobs its head in a sort of greeting as it curls up its body into a tight coil outside the doorway. "A friend sssent me to help you. I ttthhink you know who."

"You problem with the elf, yessss? And other things I can help with. You friend...Nalin. I can help you with him. Help make him more himssself" The snake flips its tongue out.

[Desril]

Lily

Rubbing her eyes clean, she looks at the snake curiously, too upset to think about who might've sent it. "What'd you mean? How are you supposed to help? What are you?"

[Bhaakon]

"I'm was once Nalin's guide...I helped him, yessss? I can help you, too. My mistresssss wants to help with the elf. Shehassss helped you before. Ssshe is very beautiful. Terrible beauty. Too much for this place. Sshe senss me where sshe can not go. Sshe sent me to help here favorite little shadow, yesss. She knowss your plan was sound, but sometimes even good plansss must be done in the darknesssss. That isss her way." The viper replies knowingly, head lolling slowly left and right. "It is a terrible thing that happened to the elf. Your friend wasssn't strong enough. I can help you be stronger, yesss? So it does not happen again. Just ssseal a contract with me and our Mistress...the elf will be all better. Just say it alloud--that I am to be your familiar and that you wissshh for the elf to be cured."

[Desril]

Lily

Shaking her head in disbelief, "Our mistress?" She looks back toward the interior of the shrine, wondering if this was the answer to her prayers. There's not much reason that I couldn't pass him off as a snake that I merely found...

"And what do you mean you can make me stronger?"

[Bhaakon]

"Teach you things, yesss? Tell you information, watch your back, be your eyes and ears. Make you...strike like an asssssp." The snake hisses back.

"Here. An offering, yesss? Proof of what the Mistress can provide through me." the viper cranes out its neck--if a snake can be said to have a neck--and begings heaving. The process is quick, and the roll of parchment it drops on the ground unrolls itself. A scroll for summoning an outsider. There's something added to the bottom of the parchment, five syllables in the flowing written from of Aquan. Lily can't read it, of course.

[Desril]

Lily

With everything that happened, and the fact that she's barely able to read people, let alone serpents, Lily doesn't notice that the snake said the mistress this time, or question why Nocticula would send a snake rather than a bat, she takes the creature at its word and briefly examines the scroll. This is exactly what we need...

Nodding, "Then come here. The ritual to bind you to me should not take long...what is your name? Normally, familiars can't speak before the ritual, but Our Lady seems to have blessed you."

[Bhaakon]

"Slithaint has been blessed in many ways. Breathe in and see..." Slithant dissolves away into mist, form only vaguely serpentine, and swims through the air like an eel towards Lily and circles her head until she finally has no choice but to inhale. The smoke disappears into her nostrils...and somehow she knows the snake is hers now. She Looks down at the scroll. The words are jibberish, but there's a hiss in her ear. Slithaint, manifest around her shoulders in his most substantial shadowy form.

"Krundi Seade...marid. She owes our mistress a favor, yessss. Will not hold a grudge."

[Ilorin Lorati]

Merjana

Back up in the city, Merjana sighs and pinches the bridge of her nose finally getting the previous conversation through her head. "I'm going to need to do research on planar binding if we're going to do this. Calling outsiders to help us with mortal problems. Teacher would be shamed, but... Aravashnial needs our help, doesn't he?" A month ago she would have balked at the idea of going to such lengths to mitigate the elf's misfortune, and she knew it, but friends and growing attachments had a day of causing such things. Aravashnial had done nothing to incur her wrath; he was an innocent in the battle of Kenbres and deserved to be treated like one, even if it meant going to such lengths.

[Desril]

Lily

Shaking her head as the smoke dissipates and the serpent once more takes on a semi-solid form on her shoulder, she's surprised by how light it is, and at how quickly the ritual happened. It must be because of what he is.

As he explains the Aquan on the scroll, the tiefling bites her lip, she'd told the others she'd summon a djinn...but marid are naturally inclined to art, and though she could not produce a tome of power to offer a djinn, she could offer something worthwhile to their more capricious, watery cousins. Between her body, sculpture, and writing, with Sileniy's music as backup, there was sure to be something it would accept. I'm sure I'll be able to convince them. And if she owes Nocticula a favor, then I need not trap her at all. Her name should be sufficient to hold her attention long enough to make our request.

[Frosty]

Millia

Millia starting saying, "Lily, we're in your s..." right as the tiefling finished sliding out dimensionally. Giving Nalin a look of disapproval, she quickly rushes out to find Lily. She looks in a few places first in the city, including Lily's room, but the search came up empty. "Wait, she really wanted that shrine under Kenabres...I should check that place out."

The armor less aasimar is unemcumbered, but still no match for anyone with mythical ply-enhanced speed of course. Even running to the shrine, she arrives later than any others who came straight here.

[Vhaidara]

Nalin of the Blackened Soul

Why had he done that? Why had he said those words? Gods, he was an idiot...

It is just under an hour before Nalin arrives at the shrine.
Lily? Are you there?
His voice is a hoarse sound.

[Desril]

Lily

Her head was pounding still. She'd cried herself out for now, but that didn't do anything for how painful being that hurt and angry was. At least the shrine maiden was keeping the mess from accumulating and had the presence of mind to let her weep in peace. But hearing Nalin's voice, hoarse or not, is enough to make the tiefling scowl. She doesn't bother to get up as she calls out to him, her own voice barely intelligible. "Go away!"

[Vhaidara]

Nalin of the Blackened Soul

Nalin enters the shrine, looking at Lily.
Lilith...I'm sorry.

[Desril]

Lily

She hadn't been sure how she was going to react the next time she was forced to confront Nalin. In fact, she'd been doing her very best not to think about him at all, though with little success. So to see him standing before her now and offering such a simple apology causes her scowl to turn into a glare. The benefit to anger, at least, is that it helps to compose your voice. "You threatened to kill me. If you think you can trick me into getting closer you're wrong." Though the inflection is calm, her tone is cold.

[Vhaidara]

Nalin of the Blackened Soul

Nalin holds his hands out in surrender.
Lily, I was wrong. What I said...I don't know where it came from. I just...I know the kinds of temptation that demons can offer. I know how they can twist the best of intentions. And when I look at you, I see the possibility to do great things in the world. And whatever you do, you'll be convinced it is the right thing. But I'm scared, Lily. I'm scared that you'll lose sight of the truth and become something like Jerribeth or Jeslyn. It scares me because I think I might still help you.
He lets out a long breath.
Eight years trying to redeem myself for what I did, and I would throw it all away to keep you safe.