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Message: <blockquote data-quote="covaithe" data-source="post: 4774979" data-attributes="member: 46559">Arnest barks a laugh, despite himself.  "Hire you for protection?  That would be like a man in a shipwreck clinging to the anchor to stay afloat.  And yet...  It seems I am out of alternatives.  If your destructiveness can be turned upon the bugbear cult, perhaps all is not yet lost."Arnest nods.  He tries to speak, but chokes up and falls silent again.  [sblock=Tander]A healing word will stabilize her and restore her to consciousness, though it will not mend her foot.  For that, stronger magics are needed, such as those practiced at the temple of Apoliooc:  Hmm, the wiki doesn't say which deity covers healing.  I remember Apollo is supposed to be about medicine, but I seem to remember some of the other gods had a healing portfolio, too.  I'm happy to edit to a different deity if anyone can fill me in...[/sblock]Arnest looks dubious.  "The ritual would surely help, but...  I cannot finish it alone."  His face turns reluctantly towards Palindrome, showing obvious disgust and fear.Arnest responds immediately.  "I can offer you a purse of 400 gold coins if you can end this threat, and protect my life and Tsasha's."Arnest flinches away from Palindrome's agressive interrogation, but answers heatedly.  "The Unseen Lord is neither evil nor a deity.  He is an enlightened being who has achieved a trans-moral state through perfect self-knowledge.  We who follow his path strive to discard or destroy all barriers to self-understanding, including the illusion of so-called good and evil. We seek no worldly power save the freedom to pursue our path.  We deny the authority of the gods and their slaves, evil and good alike, to dictate what is permissible to the enlightened.  Naturally, the so-called religious authorities disapprove, as no doubt would my grandmother.  If you seek further instruction, perhaps you would care to **** off and die?"[sblock=Insight]Arnest appears to believe all these things, with the fervor of a relatively new convert.  He is also sincere in offering payment.[/sblock][sblock=Religion]The "Unseen Lord" doesn't ring any bells specifically, though cults reverencing shadowy or invisible figures are hardly rare.  [/sblock][sblock=Palidrome's Arcana]Your eye expertly scans the sigils and materials around the room.  There are the usual binding agents, rock salt and sulfur and white lime mixed with yew ash, and a bit of cinnabar imparting the reddish color.  At the four cardinal points of the diagram are runes drawn in what smells like a solution of gold in aqua regia, still smoking slightly where it has eaten into the floor.  The runes are not writing as such, but ideograms depicting concepts: concealment, sacrifice, vision, and truth.  In the center of the diagram are four small medallions similar to the one you found on the dead elf girl at the Golden Snowflake, though lacking any magical aura.  Based on the layout, the runes, and your experience of arcane rituals, you are fairly confident that the ritual consists of channeling a significant amount of power into the ritual's structural elements over a period of time, then releasing it into the medallions.  Based on the dagger you found on the altar, the release probably involves someone's blood.  The ritual diagram currently holds almost no stored power, probably because of its accidental discharge into Woe's weapon.ooc:  Given that knowledge, are you still going outside for more blood?[/sblock][sblock=ooc all]What with all the talking, a short rest has passed.  [/sblock]</blockquote>

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