Echo of Eclavdran

Those that work the sewers are in a fuss when asked if a group can go down there. Seems that their records of what the sewers are supposed to look like don't line up properly with what actually exists down there. Worse... There's something down there. Something dangerous which threatens the lives of those who work the sewers. The only thing that keeps them from saying no is that you are all experienced adventurers.

The hope is that the experience you have will keep you from being killed.

The sewers themselves are surprisingly pleasant really. The walls are clean of moss or mildew. Which isn't to say that one doesn't need to watch their feet. But it's far cleaner than the sewers have ever been before. In fact... they almost seem... new.

GAME: Telamon casts Mage Armor. Caster Level: 17 DC: 19
GAME: Telamon casts Overland Flight. Caster Level: 17 DC: 23
GAME: Telamon casts Mind Blank. Caster Level: 17 DC: 26
GAME: Ravenstongue casts Mage Armor. Caster Level: 15 DC: 18
GAME: Ravenstongue casts Overland Flight. Caster Level: 15 DC: 22
GAME: Telamon casts Mind Blank. Caster Level: 17 DC: 26
GAME: Seldan casts Light. Caster Level: 16 DC: 18

Seldan had been patient with the crews in the explanation, and the comments had given him some warning of what he was about to find. He nevertheless does not bother with disguising himself or his true panoply, knowing what it is that he needs to do here. "Do we accomplish what we seek, that which threatens the workers shall no longer be," he explains, evenly.

Once he is down there, he quickly conjures light, attaching the blue-silver-gold glow to the tip of his bow, and stops, looking around him with an expression of unfiltered understanding. "She has made it as it was ere first Eclavdran touched it," he breathes. "So be it. Let us begin."

Critias strokes his beard, possibly trying to form it into a point although it is far too short to hold such a shape. "Yes, we'll be careful," he assures the nearest worker. It's almost off-hand, such is Critias' eagerness to get started. He quirks an eyebrow as he takes in the sewers. "I know this city is famous across the lands for it's advancements," he begins. "...but I though a sewer was a sewer, no matter what city it's under. Is this normal?"

And as promised, there are two half-elf sorcerers ready to help Sir Seldan. Telamon and Cor'lana Lupecyll-Atlon stand together, as the pair weave protective and enhancing magics around themselves. Tel is dressed for adventuring -- a simpler reinforced long-sleeved gray tunic over trousers and work boots, with his cloak over that. His circlet polished, and his eyes glimmering with starlight. Finally, he incants a complex chant, a crackle of energy flickering around him before subsiding.

"Hold still, Lana," he says with a smile. "Let me ward you as well. This'll prevent us from being tracked, and strengthen our wills against mental intrusion." Repeating the spell, folding his magics around his wife, before giving her a small kiss on her brow. "Ready to add another page to our story?" he says with a smile.

Cor'lana's chanting right alongside her husband, murmuring her own protective incantations and warding herself as she stands dressed in her adventuring robes, the circlet on her head announcing once again that she is here for her own certain kind of warfare. But when Telamon asks her to stay still, she gives him a soft smile and reaches up a little on the toes of her feet to kiss him affectionately on the chin. "I'm ready," she says lightly.

Then she turns her violet gaze back into the path ahead of them. "Seldan, we are with you in totality. We'll ensure we're a safe distance away from our enemy and provide support from afar." Her words are a solemn promise that they will mind themselves. She won't be a hindrance to her friend if she can help it.

GAME: Ravenstongue rolls Survival: (5)+2: 7
GAME: Telamon rolls survival: (14)+1: 15
GAME: Seldan rolls survival: (19)+25: 44
GAME: Seldan rolls perception: (17)+25: 42
GAME: Telamon rolls perception: (17)+25: 42
GAME: Ravenstongue rolls Perception: (19)+19: 38
GAME: Critias rolls survival: (2)+25: 27
GAME: Critias rolls perception: (16)+25: 41

"That precisely would I have you do," Seldan answers Cor'lana, turning to regard her with the very smallest of smiles. "Even without the circle to fuel him, this foe will not lightly fall. Do I fall, I bid you flee." He turns back around, then, to answer Critias. "It is not. An ally of mine removed the magic fueling the creature we seek, but it is in my mind that she has taken the sewers back in time, to a time ere the first magic was placed upon it, that the magic might be no more. It is well enough, although we will need to provide new maps to the City, when we are finished here."

With that said, he draws and releases a deep breath, beginning his venture into the newly-made sewer run. _It might even be clean enough to satisfy Mal_, he reflects with the barest of smirks.

You follow Seldan into the tunnels, trusting him since he seems to have a handle on where this creature you are hunting is. As you get further and further into the tunnels, they begin to twist behind you without seeming meaning or reason. Until at last only Seldan would be able to find the way back without getting lost.

It is at this point in fact, that you begin to hear the sound of footsteps. Heavy footsteps but distant it seems. Until they are suddenly upon you!

From ahead and behind comes the visage of the creature, its presence making the light shift oddly around it. The twins of Eclavdran grin with sharp interest and nod to one another. "Back again?"

The voice echoes through the tunnels with a deep tone that seems almost amused.

GAME: Aftershock rolls 1d20+17: (19)+17: 36
GAME: Aftershock rolls 1d20+17: (14)+17: 31
GAME: Aftershock rolls 1d20+31: (20)+31: 51
GAME: Aftershock rolls 1d20+31: (1)+31: 32 (EPIC FAIL)
GAME: Aftershock rolls 1d20+23: (8)+23: 31
GAME: Aftershock rolls 2d6+13: (2)+13: 15

The darkness reaches out and snuffs out the light that Seldan is carrying in the space of an instant. One moment Eclavdran is there and the next the dark is descending. Arms reach out from that dark. Scraping over Telamon's clothes and latching on. Critias is similarly unlucky, finding himself grabbed up and held fast against the ceiling. Or the wall? Impossible to tell in the dark. Cor'lana can't see the fiend that was before her now, but it's got ahold of her well enough to be a serious issue. The other slashes out with a blade that comes from nowhere, flashing into existence and slashing a red-hot line across Seldan's features. The cut nearly takes out an eye, but his nose saves him by redirecting the blade at the last moment and he's saved serious injury.

Luck what little of it can be found is both with them, and it is not.

GAME: Telamon casts Glitterdust/Quicken. Caster Level: 17 DC: 24
GAME: Telamon rolls conc: aliased to 1d20+sorcerer+8: (16)+17+8: 41
GAME: Aftershock rolls 1d20+7: (5)+7: 12

There's a loud curse from Telamon, because he can see -everything- in detail even when the lights go out. He -almost- wishes he couldn't. "Shit! LANA! Let GO of me, you pathetic half-assed attempt at a demon!" Struggling wildly, he focuses, eyes flashing -- and there's a momentary crackle of light, that then sputters out. "Oh, you little bastards..." he grates. He grabs a handful of Time, faster than his captor can react, and shouts, "MULAN UKUM!" A spray of silver and blue sparkles rains down, coating the demon, and Telamon, in glittery goodness.

GAME: Seldan rolls weapon1+1: (17)+24+1: 42
GAME: Seldan rolls weapon1+1-5: (15)+24+1+-5: 35
GAME: Seldan rolls weapon1+1-10: (6)+24+1+-10: 21
GAME: Seldan rolls weapon1+1: (8)+24+1: 33
GAME: Seldan rolls 1d100: (49): 49
GAME: Seldan rolls 1d100: (41): 41

Fire lashes across Seldan's face, and it is only by sheer luck that he still retains both pale-blue eyes. Well is he aware of that, but in an instant, Reunion is out of the sheath and lashing back into the darkness. "There you are," is his only answer. None of his strikes find purchase, but he only sets his jaw. Fighting in darkness has never been his friend. "Less powerful, and yet still a coward."

GAME: Critias rolls 24: (18)+24: 42
GAME: Critias rolls 1d100: (97): 97
GAME: Critias rolls 1d6+23: (4)+23: 27
GAME: Ravenstongue rolls conc: aliased to 1d20+sorcerer+7: (19)+15+7: 41

Critias sprouts fur, and a tail, along with adding a few inches and at least a half dozen pounds (though very little of that appears to be muscle). "Not a werewolf," He reminds everyone in an absent murmured voice. Critias still can't see but he tilts his head slightly to one side. He sniffs softly. There are enemies present, and not just demons. Or he thinks. Half the party is incapacitated already. Maybe. So hard to tell someone who's scared by being trapped, or someone angry at the same. At least Seldan's rosy paladin scent is clear. Well, things may be off to a poor start, but those workers were right about one thing, this party is experienced.

Critias slips out of the grasp holding him. Easily. So easily that it hardly seems fair. As easily as if he was crawling out from under the covers in bed. To add insult to injury he uses whatever was holding him for moment as a grip to hold himself in place, until he can switch to climbing along other surfaces. He then moves straight towards Corlana. And proceeds to slam a shin into the being holding her.

GAME: Ravenstongue rolls conc: aliased to 1d20+sorcerer+7: (16)+15+7: 38
GAME: Ravenstongue casts Limited Wish. Caster Level: 15 DC: 24
GAME: Aftershock rolls 1d20+32: (3)+32: 35
GAME: Aftershock rolls 3d6+6: (4)+6: 10
GAME: Ravenstongue casts Shield/Quicken. Caster Level: 15 DC: 22
GAME: Ravenstongue rolls conc: aliased to 1d20+sorcerer+7: (10)+15+7: 32
GAME: Critias rolls 24: (15)+24: 39
GAME: Critias rolls 1d100: (64): 64
GAME: Critias rolls 1d6+23: (1)+23: 24
GAME: Aftershock rolls 1d20+17: (10)+17: 27
GAME: Aftershock rolls 1d100: (11): 11
GAME: Aftershock rolls 1d100: (92): 92
GAME: Aftershock rolls 1d20+31: (17)+31: 48
GAME: Aftershock rolls 1d20+26: (2)+26: 28
GAME: Aftershock rolls 1d20+21: (17)+21: 38
GAME: Aftershock rolls 1d20+16: (1)+16: 17 (EPIC FAIL)
GAME: Aftershock rolls 1d20+32: (11)+32: 43
GAME: Aftershock rolls 2d6+13: (7)+13: 20

Cor'lana's grinding her teeth together as she's grappled by her invisible assailant. In the magical darkness, her violet eyes glow softly, her ability to see the invisible not helping much in this moment. This is not how she foresaw this to go, but then again, she is not a diviner. She is an enchantress. A talent that she momentarily forgets as all she can think of is how a raven in a cage yearns to be free.

"I have a small Wish--"

The phrase sparks with power off her tongue. The magic surges from within her. She knows in that instant that she has magic, that she is magic. That she can do something. She can be--

"--to be FREE!"

Even as her shadowy enemy bites into her, Cor'lana feels the magic wash over her. The power that she's inherited enables her. It's a small wonder. A small miracle. The joy of this small wish follows her steps as she runs, a quick shielding incantation falling from her lips.

For it is now within her power to stay uncaged if she so... Wishes.

GAME: Ravenstongue rolls Fortitude: (20)+10: 30 (CRITICAL SUCCESS)
GAME: Ravenstongue rolls Fortitude: (20)+10: 30 (CRITICAL SUCCESS)

The demons surrounding Telamon hold him down while one in particular shoves their fist into the poor sorcerers mouth. Against the first echo of Eclavdran Seldan trades blows. The pair are slowly bleeding one another, but the demon is healing and so far... The paladin is not. Cor'lana escapes the second echo, but it chases her down, swiping a hand across a blood-stained face and clasping her injured shoulder - hard.

GAME: Telamon rolls conc: aliased to 1d20+sorcerer+8: (4)+17+8: 29

This is going from bad to worse. Tel blinded the one on him, but now another is forcing its filthy, half-real claw into his mouth to keep him from casting! Desperately, the sorcerer focuses on the one holding onto him, his eyes narrow... and he snaps his fingers.

And nothing happens.

GAME: Seldan rolls 6d6: (16): 16
GAME: Seldan rolls weapon1+1: (11)+24+1: 36
GAME: Seldan rolls weapon1+1-5: (13)+24+1+-5: 33
GAME: Seldan rolls weapon1+1-10: (1)+24+1+-10: 16 (EPIC FAIL)
GAME: Seldan rolls weapon1+1: (18)+24+1: 43
GAME: Seldan rolls 1d100: (2): 2
GAME: Seldan rolls 1d100: (83): 83
GAME: Seldan rolls 1d8+10: (2)+10: 12

Pressed hard, Seldan cannot turn to the prayers that would strengthen or shield him. There simply isn't time. All he can do is hold the fort. Wait until the sorcerer duo can restore the light.

All he needs to do is hold.

He knows how to do that.

So, he presses the attack, lips set in a thin line, and surge of hope rushes through him as he feels the blade connect - finally. It's not much, but it's something.

Critias, still unable to see, lashes out and somehow connects with the demon still harrying Corlana. He then has to hold himself still for a moment, reaching out with his other senses to detect sounds and smells. After only a few steps his expression seems to brighten. He reaches out both hands to his sides. One of his hands brushes the wall of the sewer. He leaps onto that wall, now moving on all fours and scampers past the Echo, until he's over where Corlana is. "It's me!" he hisses at her urgently. Just before he reaches down, grasps her hand and pulls her up into the air. Almost at the same time he drops down off of the wall into the place she was a moment earlier, to face where he thinks the demon is, hands raised to ward off blows.

GAME: Verna casts Dispel Magic. Caster Level: 19 DC: 20
GAME: Verna rolls 1d20+20: (3)+20: 23
GAME: Verna rolls 1d20+20: (5)+20: 25
GAME: Ravenstongue casts Limited Wish. Caster Level: 15 DC: 24
GAME: Ravenstongue casts Hideous Laughter/Quicken. Caster Level: 15 DC: 23
GAME: Aftershock rolls 1d20+7: (18)+7: 25

There is always something. What originally was only a minor delay on Verna's part is exacerbated by the seemingly altering tunnels. The sounds of struggles can be heard before she finally arrives around the proper corner, only discovering it is after the fact. Then all is... well, it remains unseen. Yet, that all is unseen is significant; the absence of data serving as data in and of itself. She does not have ready the most direct cure, but it is not the only, and she promptly makes an abrupt gesture and curst incantation to unravel the magic present. It does not light the way, but it does suck away some of the dark.

Her husband's in danger. Now that she can see, if only a small measure, she knows exactly the measure of what's happening. There is one thing she can do.

She can bring back the light.

"I have a small Wish," she begins again, the power flickering off her tongue again. She thinks of her Lady of Inspiration. She thinks of fire, she thinks of light, she thinks of warmth, she thinks of how Vaire prizes freedom above all things, and she hopes with this small measure that she can buy Telamon his freedom--to banish the shadows that are upon him. Upon all of them, really.

"To bring this light out into the dark!" she cries out.

And the darkness lifts. The shadows are sent away. Cor'lana would celebrate, but there is still the matter of the echos. Violet eyes still glowing with magic, she murmurs an incantation in the form of a joke about horns and demons--but botches the landing. It does not have the intended effect.

GAME: Aftershock rolls 1d20+31: (19)+31: 50
GAME: Aftershock rolls 1d20+26: (4)+26: 30
GAME: Aftershock rolls 1d20+21: (14)+21: 35
GAME: Aftershock rolls 1d20+16: (16)+16: 32
GAME: Aftershock rolls 1d20+32: (18)+32: 50
GAME: Aftershock rolls 2d6+13: (8)+13: 21
GAME: Aftershock rolls 3d6+6: (12)+6: 18
GAME: Critias rolls 24: (19)+24: 43
GAME: Critias rolls 1d6+23: (4)+23: 27

The shadow demons flee into the nearest shadows they can find, but the echoes don't seem to care. One of them charges Verna, sinking teeth into her shoulder viciously while the other keeps Seldan at bay with a bevy of further attacks. The pair are exchanging blow after blow, in an epic clanging of sword against sword.

GAME: Aftershock rolls 1d20+7: (15)+7: 22
GAME: Telamon casts Banishment. Caster Level: 17 DC: 24
GAME: Seldan rolls weapon1+1: (9)+24+1: 34
GAME: Seldan rolls weapon1+1-5: (12)+24+1+-5: 32
GAME: Seldan rolls weapon1+1-10: (8)+24+1+-10: 23
GAME: Seldan rolls weapon1+1: (4)+24+1: 29

Suddenly Telamon's mouth is free. His -hands- are free. And this is where he returns the favor. "I abjure ye, creatures of darkness! Return to the Iron Hells! Zub nigak, asag gigam, gabazig!" He brings his hands together, and there's a flash of light. Pure. Untouched. Then it radiates outward, and the shadow demons disappear like fog before the sunrise. <Celestial>

GAME: Critias rolls knowledge/arcana: (17)+14: 31

Meanwhile, Seldan is hard-pressed, although a sigh of relief escapes him when the light floods back around him. There is no time to thank the mages, or note Verna's newfound presence. There is only sword, and he is losing ground. The momentary distraction is enough to throw him off, and this time, he blades find no purchase at all.

Still does he press, for losing battles on the surfaces are not always so.

GAME: Critias rolls 26: (2)+26: 28

Critias blinks suddenly as light returns. Somewhat. Not as bright as before, but at least Critias can see now. He blinks a few times and lets his eyes adjust - rounder and slightly larger than before, with irises that grow to giant pools of darkness. He sees the Echo running away again, and gives it a hard thump that doesn't seem to bother it in the least. None of his blows seem to have bothered it, Critias thinks to himself. As he turns to follow it he imbues his feet with divine energies so that they can strike even hardier blows against such foes. And of course as he launches himself after the Echo, that's his first blow that misses.

GAME: Verna casts Finger of Death. Caster Level: 19 DC: 25
GAME: Verna casts Destruction. Caster Level: 19 DC: 24
GAME: Aftershock rolls 1d20+7: (13)+7: 20
GAME: Aftershock rolls 1d20+7: (2)+7: 9
GAME: Verna rolls reflex: (7)+13: 20
GAME: Verna rolls fort: (4)+17: 21
GAME: Verna rolls fort: (13)+17: 30
GAME: Ravenstongue casts True Strike/Quicken. Caster Level: 15 DC: 22
GAME: Ravenstongue casts Disintegrate. Caster Level: 15 DC: 23
GAME: Ravenstongue rolls ranged+20: (5)+9+20: 34
GAME: Ravenstongue rolls 1d20+sorcerer+4: (9)+15+4: 28

Verna's dislike for Eclavdran is not easily quantified. She was slain by him on more than one occasion. She slew Auranar once, herself, to keep her from his clutches. Even after destroying him utterly, she carried around some portion of his essence within her skull for a (unpleasant) time.

Now there are TWO of them!

No. Just... no.

She steps back in a mix of shock and to give her room to articulate. One hand moves to her Scales. The other begins to articulate in precise gestures. Her incantation is a deliberate, if not simple, combination of beseeching The Harpist and utterances in Mynsandraal. Two manipulations at once.

The intent of each is quite simple: remove the thing before her from reality. Do not harm, do not banish, but go directly to The Void and cease to be.

The results are not quite so clean, however, as the Echo of Eclavdran spites her by ceasing to be in a sanguinous and sinewy explosion of gore.

GAME: Aftershock rolls 1d20+31: (1)+31: 32 (EPIC FAIL)
GAME: Aftershock rolls 1d20+26: (13)+26: 39
GAME: Aftershock rolls 1d20+21: (4)+21: 25
GAME: Aftershock rolls 1d20+16: (4)+16: 20

The remaining echo of Eclavdran looks as if it has hardly been harmed at all, but Seldan's blade keeps it from damaging him any further also.

GAME: Telamon casts Suffocation. Caster Level: 17 DC: 23

Cor'lana focuses, now that Telamon is free from the demons that had been bearing down onto him. She looks at the remaining echo, and an incantation falls from her lips, allowing her magic to lock onto her target.

Then the next word falls from her lips.

"Disintegrate."

But the magic that fires from her fingers doesn't penetrate the echo of the archfiend's defenses.

GAME: Telamon rolls spellpen+2: aliased to 1d20+sorcerer+4+2: (10)+17+4+2: 33
GAME: Aftershock rolls 1d20+29: (15)+29: 44
GAME: Aftershock rolls 1d20+29: (16)+29: 45
GAME: Seldan rolls weapon1+1: (20)+24+1: 45 (THREAT)
GAME: Seldan rolls weapon1+1: (11)+24+1: 36

Now free of the demons, Telamon streaks to Cor'lana's side. Their magics synchronize in time with their heartbeats, as his starry eyes regard the fiend battling Seldan. Or at least, the echo of the fiend. "Alright, let's crank this up a notch." He raises his metamagic rod, and intones the killing magic, which washes over the devil... but fails to throttle it entirely.

GAME: Seldan rolls weapon1+1-5: (4)+24+1+-5: 24
GAME: Seldan rolls weapon1+1-10: (20)+24+1+-10: 35 (THREAT)
GAME: Seldan rolls weapon1+1-10: (11)+24+1+-10: 26
GAME: Seldan rolls weapon1+1: (13)+24+1: 38
GAME: Seldan rolls 1d8+10: (8)+10: 18
GAME: Seldan rolls 1d8+10: (5)+10: 15
GAME: Seldan rolls 2d8+20: (5)+20: 25
GAME: Aftershock rolls 1d20+32: (7)+32: 39
GAME: Critias rolls 30: (8)+30: 38
GAME: Critias rolls 1d6+23+2d6+2: (1)+23+(5)+2: 31

And - Seldan has held, for long enough. This, he knows when Eclavdran jerks, when the weapons and spells begin to strike his foe. He has held -

And an opening presents itself.

Reunion roars in a crotchety old voice of sheer maniacal glee as its bloodied blade crashes down across the creature's constructed arm, slicing clean through the simulacrum's mock flesh and bone, shearing away the hand that holds the blade. With the opening so engineered, the blade finds purchase twice more, slashing into not-flesh. "You are not Eclavdran. You are but a poor copy."

GAME: Verna casts Heal. Caster Level: 19 DC: 23
GAME: Verna rolls fort: (14)+17: 31
GAME: Verna rolls finesse: (19)+12: 31
GAME: Aftershock rolls 1d20+25: (19)+25: 44
GAME: Verna rolls reflex: (9)+13: 22
GAME: Seldan rolls reflex: (3)+24: 27

Critias eyes the spray of blood and gore from the space where the Echo had been a moment before. He looks like he almost wants to say something to Verna, but the continued sounds of battle remind him that now is not the time. Instead he turns and looks, spotting the remaining Echo. He moves over to it, quickly realizing how much of it's attention is focused on Seldan. Critias is able to line himself up just so and leap into the air. One foot is extended and plants against the Echo's back in a stomp that also lets him push off and turn in mid-air before he lands facing it from behind.

GAME: Seldan rolls fortitude: (14)+28: 42
GAME: Verna rolls FORT: (18)+17: 35

"Seldan!" Verna is covered in gore, but she attempts to ignore it for the moment. Or perhaps it has caused some temporary insanity as she moves TOWARDS the remaining Echolavdran. The words she utters are for The Harpist, inviting Her to invite it to Her Halls... or at least send it in that direction. She makes herself a conduit of this negative energy and then places a gloved hand upon it to channel said energy through herself and into it.

And then it explodes.

GAME: Verna rolls will: (1)+24: 25 (EPIC FAIL)

Cor'lana's attention turns to the hand that remains. While it's removed from the rest of the echo of Eclavdran, that doesn't mean it's completely inert. Not until it ceases to exist.

"Telamon, my starborn king, with me," she says. She doesn't have to say it at all, really. The bond between them shares exactly what's needed to be done.

She lifts her hand, murmurs an incantation to strike true, and then the next word is that of power once again:

"Disintegrate."

GAME: Ravenstongue casts Disintegrate. Caster Level: 15 DC: 23
GAME: Ravenstongue casts True Strike/Quicken. Caster Level: 15 DC: 22

Telamon snarls as the fiend-echo resists his strangling magic. He glances at Lana, a shared thought, but then the echo explodes in a shower of horrid gore, and Tel actually flinches. "What... well..." He looks at the disgusting scene, and shakes his head. "I am with you, love." As she begins to cast, he does so as well, chanting in unison, their voices weaving together. And as one, they lash out with twinned beams of destroying force.

GAME: Telamon casts Disintegrate. Caster Level: 17 DC: 24

A construct really shouldn't have that much blood.

The spray of blood washes over Seldan, and he barely has a moment to throw up an arm to shield his face as the sanguine cascade strikes him full in the face. There is no escaping it, but even as it strikes, the pearlescent mithral of his armor turns it aside, melts it away as if it never was. Wherever there is armor, in moments, he is clean and untouched, but every other inch of him is coated in wicked crimson.

He's still recovering, still straightening, when the twin sickly green beams lash out, barely visible through the dripping crimson that coats his hair. "Well done-" he begins.

Verna blinks, slowly, afterwards, though the motion may only be noticed by the disappearance and reappearance of her eyes. Even were her hood not donned, all of her is now well-coated in a double-layer of bodily fluids. She looks down to her bite wound, now difficult to discern from the rest, wipes at it, and then looks to the others. First, now, is Cor'lana, her sister, and she approaches her. "Allow me," she offers, reaching to put a hand on Lana's own wound.

GAME: Ravenstongue rolls Fortitude: (4)+10: 14
GAME: Ravenstongue rolls Fortitude: (3)+10: 13
GAME: Ravenstongue rolls Will+5: (1)+16+5: 22 (EPIC FAIL)
GAME: Ravenstongue rolls Will+5: (8)+16+5: 29

Critias watches the proceedings. He looks almost like his normal human self again, albeit with a bit more hair on his face and on the top of his head. "Am I to understand," he pans his gaze now across the tunnel walls, "That the sewers will return to normal now? Almost a shame," he adds in a lowered voice. Before he hurries on, "But ah, of course, those creatures had to be dealt with."

GAME: Seldan rolls sense motive: (1)+19: 20 (EPIC FAIL)
GAME: Seldan rolls sense motive: (17)+19: 36

Cor'lana smiles sweetly at Verna as the hand is placed onto her. She seems thoroughly unconcerned with the gore that covers Verna.

"Thank you kindly for your healing. You should go heal our friend Seldan." She even gestures to the man, urging Verna to go over there. After all, he fought so hard! Her voice is just as sweet as her expression.

GAME: Telamon rolls sense motive: (4)+25: 29
GAME: Critias rolls sense motive: (6)+18: 24
GAME: Telamon rolls sense motive: (3)+25: 28

Telamon tilts his head, watching his wife and Verna. His expression grows a trifle worried, and he furrows his brow, as if focusing on something. His eyes flick to Seldan and Critias, and there's a definite sense of concern in his gaze.

GAME: Seldan casts Prestidigitation. Caster Level: 16 DC: 18
GAME: Seldan rolls knowledge/religion: (2)+15: 17
GAME: Seldan rolls knowledge/religion: (1)+15: 16 (EPIC FAIL)

"Nay. I shall see to myself." Seldan's tone is still even, his usual studious and steady self, but - the words are unusually sharp, and the pale blue eyes are narrowed. With a simple set of gestures, he draws a sigil in the air, then slowly passes hand over face, over body, where the wounds lay. The rest will keep a moment, and he allows the spell to fade.

No, he stares at Verna and Cor'lana, eyes narrowed. "Eclavdran, still do you not wholly perish from the Cosmos. Ware, Lord Lupecyll-Atlon, for it is in my mind that his spirit yet has them."

Verna turns towards Seldan at Lana's suggestion. "Of course." She does not share his concern nor hesitation, however, and moves towards him. "You are unwell, Silverguard. I shall correct that." A hand reaches out for him as she nears.

GAME: Ravenstongue rolls Will+5: (13)+16+5: 34

Critias looks back towards the others in time to catch Telamon's look. Critias looks down at his own body, and clothes, and then glances at the others. After that he looks towards where each of the Echos was slain. Did he miss something? Critias tries to replay the fight in his head. After a few more moments he frowns himself. "What is it?" he prompts gently.

GAME: Verna rolls finesse: (9)+12: 21

Cor'lana looks up at Telamon for a moment. The sweet smile turns into...

A grimace.

"Grandfather," she murmurs. "Thank you." Then her fingers go to the sleeve of her robes, the sewing needle hidden within drawing blood. The sorceress places her bloodied finger onto the mark.

"Something tried to take control of my mind. Grandfather forced it out," she says. "Be wary!"

GAME: Telamon casts Blink. Caster Level: 17 DC: 21
GAME: Telamon casts Hideous Laughter/Quicken. Caster Level: 17 DC: 24
GAME: Verna rolls will+2: (1)+24+2: 27 (EPIC FAIL)
GAME: Verna rolls will+2: (18)+24+2: 44

Verna fails to even make contact with Seldan or his armor. Perhaps the latter repelled her, given that she is covered in gore and it repelled that from the latest explosion.

Relief floods his expression as the sense of Lana blossoms in Telamon's mind once more. "Thank you, Grandfather!" he bursts out, before touching his haversack, then his robe, and murmuring a warding chant. That done, he looks at Verna, and then quips, "Verna, can I interest you in Lana's taste in swimwear?" Sadly, the joke doesn't take.

GAME: Ravenstongue casts Hold Monster/Persistent. Caster Level: 15 DC: 24
GAME: Verna rolls will+2: (5)+24+2: 31
GAME: Verna rolls will+2: (15)+24+2: 41
GAME: Seldan rolls 6d6: (12): 12
GAME: Seldan casts Protection From Evil. Caster Level: 8 DC: 19

Now freed, Cor'lana eyes Verna as she approaches Seldan. "I think it's got her now!" she says. "We have to stop her before she does something she'll regret!"

She weaves her magic around Verna, trying hard to lock down her sister before the entity that's got a hold of her can hurt anyone. But the spell slips away, and Cor'lana growls in frustration.

The joke is also lost on Seldan, but he takes a step back, not needing Cor'lana to tell him that. "Even so." He takes a step backwards, and even as he does so, he lays a hand on his shoulder. Some of the wounds mend, but the nasty-looking gash across his nose and just under his left eye barely slows. He ignores it, instead reaching for the crescent and sphere around his neck. "Holy Dreamer, shield me from evil as You have done so many times before, for evil again walks this place."

Lana knows Verna well. Verna would very much agree with her. However, Verna is not present at the moment and is not taking messages. With Seldan's spell likely providing some strong dissuasion, Verna turns back to he sister. Family is important, afterall! Family should stand together. Thus she moves promptly towards her, reaching for her. "Cor'lana..." Given Verna's tone remains as hers is, it is difficult to tell whether it is statement, plea, curse, or other.

GAME: Verna rolls finesse: (2)+12: 14

A simian-themed Critias steps forward, trying to stay in Verna's path. Even though he'd dwarf her normally, he remains in a partial crouch, hunched over and swaying with one hand or both so low he could touch the ground to roll or spring in any direction. "Stop her from doing...what? What might she do?" his voice shows his concern as well, and he has to stop himself from looking back at the ruins Verna made of both Echos.

GAME: Telamon casts Telekinesis. Caster Level: 17 DC: 23
GAME: Telamon rolls 1d20+sorcerer+8: (4)+17+8: 29

Telamon's voice rings out. "Dimma sa irhandi namsita." And a cool wind blows down the sewer passageway, scented with charcoal, as sparkles of light linger in the air. Suddenly an unseen force latches onto Verna's ankles, yanking them out from under her and sending her sprawling. "Sorry Verna," Tel says with a pained look. "I'll cook you and Aura dinner as an apology. She makes the best sweetrolls, you know..."

GAME: Ravenstongue casts Magic Circle Against Evil. Caster Level: 15 DC: 20
GAME: Verna rolls will+2: (13)+24+2: 39

Cor'lana stares down Verna as the Mourner reaches out to her. It may be difficult to discern what it is, but the look in Cor'lana's eyes says it all: she takes it as a plea for freedom.

One that the feytouched soul cannot ignore.

"I know, sister," she tells Verna, and then she lifts her hand, calling up the words to save her. Bringing up the aura of magic that Cor'lana hopes will compel this awful thing from her.

"I hoped for hope," she finds herself softly saying, and there's a look in her eyes like she might cry, but then it's turned into a look of determination that burns fiercely in her eyes. The follower of the Lady of Inspiration is full of the flame to see this through.

"I hope for _freedom_ from evil." The magic is let loose.

Perhaps it is Cor'lana's eyes as Verna is so near despite her lack of dangerous contact.

Maybe it is Telamon's mention of Auranar.

It could be talk of the associated sweet (yes, they ARE that good; one need only ask Verna).

All told, it is -probably- due most to Cor'lana's magic, however. Verna goes still and then shudders before falling to her knees. There is no care for the sewer at her feet (and she may well be more filthy than the sewers at this moment).

"Stay. Out. Of. My Mind!" A few other words follow, in an assortment of tongues, to include Mynsandraal, Infernal, Yrrch, and even Gobber, among others. All expletives.

Seldan is left to regard Verna as she drops to her knees. "Would that none of you were forced to face this," he murmurs, guilt tinging his tone. "Holy Dreamer, grant that one day we might see a permanent end to this creature's evil. Mourner, are you well?" He does not look at any of the others, instead stepping forward again to draw the same set of sigils in the air again.

He passes that hand without comment over himself, and over Verna as well when he is done. It does little for the blood streaming down his forehead above his left eye, or the other wounds, but he says nothing of it.

-End