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The sorcerer lad doesn't scream, but the paladin does, jerking backwards. He takes just a moment to gather his wits, then goes back to lean on his patient. He is very pale, and has a pained expression "Paral" he says gently "We want to help you. Please tell us how."
He takes a breath and concentrates, then. "Whatever you are, let him go, you hear me? I won't allow you to harm this man.". He tries to imbue his voice with the certainty he has been taught, squashing the little voice of doubt in his head that says that this is a sorcerer in front of him. He is someone in trouble, and that's all that matters now.
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Paral's eyes widen further in shock and he opens his mouth as if to object, but when he speaks, no sound comes out of his mouth. His expression changes rapidly form delirious pain and shock to some sort of curious confusion, and he tries again, but this time the voice is not his own. "No harm will come to him," this new voice says, glancing down at Paral's bloody hands as if they had suddenly become quite interesting. "At least, no harm he did not inflict upon himself." He glances up at you, grinning rather smugly.
Antal, can you hear me?
"But don't worry...Audric, was it? He'll be fine. I haven't lived for...hells." His eyes, now glowing red, widen, and he begins to laugh, before breaking off into a wince of pain. "Seems the universe has a fine sense of irony."Please
Kill him, kill us, I'll be fine, better than life trapped behind my own eyes
"Your friend is feisty. Strong willed. But no matter." He-for the voice, while definitely male, is also definitely not Paral-shakes his head. "I am sure you are very noble, very worthy. But you see, I cannot allow word of this to escape...wherever we are. For what it's worth, I'm sure you could have been heroes." He lurches forwards and his hands flick out in some complicated gesture as he begins to chant something, only to stop once more in the middle of speaking. Kill us. Don't let him get away again.
Audric winces as the spell is cast "Antal, don't listen to him, he is not himself!", then takes out his sword, bringing it down in the hopes to knock the sorcerer out and neutralize the danger.
The blade hits whatever it is soundly in the side, and he hisses again, a sound that could be compared to any number of things. Human is not one of those things.
At this point, not too many things other than survival were running through Llaars' head. His few thoughts were very informative for the situation at hand: Crazy possessed guy talkin' magic? Break his jaw. Crazy possessed guy wavin' his hands? Make him wish he'd used them to cover his face.
With those simple instructions in mind, he steps forward and pulls his fist back. Just as he readies himself to swing forward, the sight of Audric dashing forward to subdue Paral causes a moment of hesitation. Instead of aiming for the throat like he was going to, Llaars opts for a knee to the stomach in an attempt to shut the man up. "I don't care how old you are. I ain't never been afraid to hit somebody twice my size, so I got no problem beatin' somebody up twice my age!"
Spoiler
Swift: Activate mighty boast
Full power attack for nonlethal damage:(1d20+4)[23] (1d6+11)[14]
It's...well, it's certainly not easy for Llaars to squeeze past both Audric and Antal to knee Paral in the gut. But he manages well enough, and Paral collapses limply, almost shivering. Antal still has an almost glazed look, hinting that whatever it was that happened to him is still functioning adequately. It seems that, whatever this other force was, he failed to account for the frailty of a teenage kid with no combat training.
"Thank Aldaran" Audric mutters to himself. "Someone help me to tie him up. And gag him, too, I don't want to take any risks. Antal. ANTAL! Snap out of it, if you want to help your friend." Raising his voice causes him a stab of pain in his chest, and he winces. It hurts...well, everywhere really. Trying to use Aldaran's blessing to heal a sorcerer kid probably wasn't the best idea I could have had. But what was I supposed to do, let him die before my eyes?. He shakes his head, sighing. He misses Kalan, and his advices, and even if he never went to him to discuss something like this he is sure Kalan would listen before judging.
Before even leaving room to the others to tie the lad up, he quickly searches him for his spell component pouch. When he finds it, he cuts the strings off, pocketing it Arcanists need objects to focus their magic with he remembers well enough from his lessons Remove the focus, neutralize the arcanist.
Spoiler
((search - (1d20+1)[11]. If that's not enough to find the pouch that he is sure Paral has, he'll keep searching, taking 10 or 20 as necessary. I'll leave to the others to tie him up and gag him.
Also knowledge religion - (1d20+3)[18] to understand what's happening to Antal))
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The spell component pouch is not hard to find and remove.
Audric
Spoiler
Paral is likely possessed. The changed voice, changed eye color, Paral's deliriousness, the shuddering, all these are symptoms of possession. Which is really, really, really, not a good thing.
A possessing spirit, according to the priests, has to be kept somewhere-it can't hold itself together, and it can't move all that well by itself. So there has either been a possessing spirit sitting around in some layer of the sewers for gods know how long, or someone actually brought a possessing spirit to Attalin.
Perhaps more to the point, possessing spirits damage the host, and you can't remember any way off the top of your head to get it out. It's been done before, though. Hazardous to the host, and even more hazardous for the paladin doing the removing, but it has been done...
That knot that was sitting in the pit of Llaars' stomach showed up the instant that last knee connected. With that malevolent spark missing from his eyes, Llaars realized that he had just decked the person they've been going through all of this trouble to save. Still, he didn't kill him, which was an improvement from the fight earlier. "A little too late for that, bud. Don't think we're gonna be hittin' him anymore if that makes ya feel better."
He kneels down to roll the unconscious figure into a more comfortable position and then grabs both wrists so that whomever was tying Paral up would have an easier time of it.
Rana gives a sigh of relief, then sheathes her scimitar and quickly takes the rope off Shadow to tie Paral -- or whatever it is -- up. As an afterthought, she also uses some of the bandages to gag him.
Use rope (1d20+2)[14]. Heal to examine his wounds, once he's tied up (1d20+7)[9]
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Paral is far lighter than his height would seem to indicate, and when Llaars tries to manuever him into a more comfortable position, he flops around like some bizarre bloody rag doll. It is not particularly hard to tie him up and gag him with the bandages, though the stains on the linen are of dubious origin at best and the combined dust of the herbs might not be the best thing to put so close to the young sorcerer's nose....
Rana
Spoiler
Actually examining Paral closely reveals a rather startling amount of injuries, some partially healed, some hot and inflamed, some bleeding anew (thanks to Audric's attempt at healing no doubt). Beyond the deep gash in his leg and the burns across his left side, there are bruises forming and formed across his midsection, at the back of his head, down his left arm. Scratches everywhere. Thin hard streaks of angry purple run across his skin, hot to the touch. Sections of his skin are peeling away under his clothing. And you can't seem to remember how to deal with any of it.
Maybe it is stress, maybe it's fear. Either way, your brain feels like mush. Figuratively. If your brain was actually turning to mush, it would probably hurt a lot more.
Rana rubs her temples. "He's hurt, badly, but I don't know what to do for him. We could take him up, but I'm not sure I want to be in the same city with him when he wakes up." She glances at Antal, then leans closer to Audric and Llaars and whispers, "I'm not sure we want him to wake up. For his sake, and ours."
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Audric too breathes more freely once the sorcerer is bound and gagged, even if he checks the knot again before being completely satisfied. After what he realized, he prefers to be on the safe side. He glances worriedly at Antal, who still doesn't seem quite himself, then and starts explaining, voice pitched low.
"From all the symptoms I can see, I think some sort of spirit possessed him" he says, grimly "I don't know how, or who brought it here, but everything fits: the voice, the eyes..." he shudders, and seems to steel himself before continuing "A possessing spirit causes harm the host, but...it can be removed. It's not easy, and it's dangerous for both the host and whoever attempts it, but I know it's been done before."
OOC
Spoiler
Aid another on Rana's use rope check to be extra special sure (1d20)[6]
Spellcraft (yay!) or Knowledge arcana to understand what's happening to Antal spellcraft - (1d20+2)[17]knowledge - (1d20+2)[11]
And I don't suppose another knowledge religion roll will help me knowing more about how to perform exorcisms, will it? (As I understand it's only the first try that counts, but just in case knowl religion - (1d20+4)[18])
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Antal has been charmed. It could wear off in a matter of hours, it could stay around for weeks. There is no way to tell.
Some spirits (the previously dead sort, which is most of them) can be driven away with repeated turnings. This is easiest, and something you could do. However, given that the spirit requires some sort of life to feed on, they are likely to seek out another host at once. And given that many of them seem to have a twisted sense of vengeance, the host they are likely to choose is the paladin or priest performing the exorcism.
Some can only be driven away with dispels, such as the touch of a powerful paladin. This tends to be swiftest, but holds the same risk as turning away the spirit.
Some cannot leave or be driven away. The only solution is death of the host, which will drag both to the afterlife. This would be the preferred solution of many in the Order, as it poses the least risk to their own person. Especially when it concerns a sorcerer as the possessed person.
In general, exorcisms are only performed when the paladin or priest deems the possessed individual to be worth much more than themselves. All too often, the stories tell of brave paladins who rid the land of a demon, only be possessed themselves. Most of those paladins reportedly commited suicide as soon as they realized they had been possessed, rather than trying to control the demon or destroy it with their will (which has been done, as far as the records go, a total of once).
"Certainly" Audric answers him, dryly. Best to humor Antal for now "But I'm sure it's better they aren't disturbed right now. They are badly wounded. And come to think about it, so are we. How about we all stop and get some rest now? Tend to them, and get a reprieve ourself?" He smiles, a clearly strained expression, then addresses Rana "I need to talk to you, in private." he mouths to her. As a druid, she seems the one that would understand the most how magic works. And it's better if Llaars keeps an eye on Antal, least he gets strange ideas.
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"As soon as possible." He raises his voice, then "I think we should get back to the boat. There is some space there and we could probably rest for a bit, and see to Paral's...to their injuries. What do you think?"
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Rana nods to Auric. "Why don't you and I go see about making an nest of sorts in the boat for Paral, er, them, while Llaars and Antal keep an eye on them. We wouldn't want them to roll around and get hurt if we hit any rough patches of water."
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He nods "Good idea. I don't want to move them too much unnecessarly" Which is also true, but secondary at the moment. He squeezes Llaars'arm for a moment before turning away "Please, keep an eye on them. All three of them." he says.
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Assuming that none of the others object, Rana heads down the passage in front of Audric. When they're out of earshot, she says softly "What did you want to talk about?"
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Sitting in the near dark with an unconscious sorcerer who is possessed by an even greater sorcerer and the halfling who was apparently friends with both of them made the silence unbearable. "So, uh, how far do you and this spirit guy go back? Seems kinda like he's not too friendly..."
As soon as they're out of earshot and sight, Audric leans against the wall, slowly sliding down until he is in a almost-seated position, and passes a hand on his eyes. "I think you noticed Antal has been charmed" he says, wearily. He is very clearly exhausted. "But I didn't bring you here to tell you that. What do you know about possessions, and specifically, how to deal with them?"
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Re: The Wrong Guys IC II
Derailed in the best way, thank you good sir.
))
