The Slave and Her Sovereign

[darkbard]

IBHEA begins to wilt under the possessing entity's threat, the power of its suggestion. Must he proclaim his devotion to Delban, the Shadowed Sun, dark son to Omthala, here before a gathering crowd, a populace unprepared for these truths unearthed from ancient coffers of the east? If speak he must, then speak truth he will! Whatever to cast forth this foul being from an innocent.

But then, just as he is beginning to admit his secret heterodoxy, Arunny mildly admonishes, "Ibhea, do not fall for this creature's tricks. Its compulsion is magic, not some ethical test. Even now I see its purple tendrils like a rope dragging you into its dark embrace. Show it your own strength and power!"

The whisky priest can almost see the bindings himself now. His anger rises. Almost to have been tricked into releasing truths upon those not ready for them!

"You sicken me, creature! You hold no power here in the mortal realm, where agents of the divine stand as bastions protecting the innocent from your weak deceptions. You hold no sway here, I say! Release the girl and retreat to your alien realm, safe from the power of the Light Mistress to sear and wither your impotent form!"

---

Arunny makes a Secondary Skill Insight check to read what forces are at work in the compulsion acting upon her fellow priest, +19 vs 12 Easy DC, so autosuccess for +2 bonus to Ibhea's Primary Skill Intimidate check to threaten the possessing creature with the full force of divine opposition, r(9) +7 +2 = 18 vs 16 Moderate DC. Success.

We're engaging with your (1) above, though I imagine that's clear.

 

[Manbearcat]

2 Successes (0 Hard DC Available)/0 Failures/1 Secondary Skills Available

---

Ibhea's mind clears, his mental and physical fortitude doubled as consternation spreads across the face of the possession mask of the "creature-child."

"What's wrong with the child" comes a call from the crowd. The throng of people presses in.

Another; "that child is sick...it needs the hands of a healer and medicinal tea, not a tongue-lashing!"

Consternation slowly turns to wicked smile as the face rises to meet the pair of priests. Capriciously, its face changes to melodramatic sentiment as it whispers mockingly to them "what's wrong with the child...what's wrong with the child?" Its eyes go from black to that of the child's again and the voice of the child is summoned forth as it faces the concerned folk gathering...reaching out to them with a desperate hand:

"Please...please help me!"

A mother and father with swaddled infant move forward with reflexive purpose, bent on intervening...

---

MEDIUM DC

 

[darkbard]

IBHEA groans as the crowd gathers and the new parents step forward to intervene. Then, fully registering the heckling, he casts his eyes to Arunny, perched close by, on the first step to the Sanctuary of Light.

"You are right, the girl does need a healer," he begins. "She is sick unto madness, hence her fear and disorientation. And the Searing Voice of Omthala before you is the very healer to deliver her. Yet we know not if this madness spreads as ill humors on the wind. Safeguard yourselves and your families, and leave the workings of Omthala's will to her rightful agents, those protected by Her radiant immanence. Return to your homes, all of you, with the blessings of the Mistress of Light upon you."

---

Ibhea uses Beguiling Tongue (Encounter, Arcane; Minor Action, Personal; Effect: You gain a +5 power bonus to your next Bluff, Diplomacy, or Intimidate check during this encounter) as a bonus to his Primary Skill Diplomacy check r(14) +7 +1 (Half-elf Group Diplomacy (within 10 squares of Arunny)) +5 = 27 vs 16 Moderate DC. Success.

 

[Manbearcat]

3 Successes (0 Hard DC Available)/0 Failures/1 Secondary Skills Available

---

The crowd genuflects in near unison at the priest's earnest petition to disperse and then does as asked.

<sigh> "...then we do it the hard way" whispers the not-child.

Eyes burn with purple flame. Actual heat radiates in waves of increasing temperature. Feet tremble and then are liberated from earth as form levitates. Spine curls back on itself. Hair separates in strands and hangs in the air.

Mouth goes agape. One voice...no TWO voices emanate from within...each whispering a different language, overlapping, entangling.

Something...is...happening.

---

MEDIUM DC BUT IF YOU WANT TO EMPOWER YOUR MOVE AND WAGER IT AGAINST THE HIGH DC, YOU CAN HAVE 2 SUCCESSES.

Clearly an AoE w/ psychic and fire keyword born of two different sources from within. Both PCs lose a Healing Surge on a failure here and if the whole Skill Challenge turns into a failure (therefore the girl is in peril), the girl suffers a -2 to Initiative in the combat to come.

 

[Nephis]

Without hesitation, ARUNNY swiftly steps closer to the still-a-child, ignoring the waves of heat and the strange multi-voiced whisperings. The Searing Voice of Omthala reaches one arm around the girl's waist and pulls her downward, the other hand cupping the back of the girl's head, gently forcing it upright to face her.

"Look into my eyes, child, look deep into them. I will lead you back to us: follow my Voice and borrow my strength." For several long moments the purple flame continues to burn in the girl's eyes. Then, slowly, the purple gives way to warm topaz, the expression absolutely terrified. "Keep following my Voice, do not hesitate: Omthala is strong enough to bring you home."

At first Arunny senses only the quiver of the child's fear. Finally, as her arms begin to tire, she feels her lifeforce begin to enter the girl's body, centering the child and anchoring her to this realm. As the woman begins to slump, still holding tightly to the girl, Ibhea comes forward to support them both.

---

WE ARE EMPOWERING OUR MOVE BY WAGERING A DAILY UTILITY POWER (STREAM OF LIFE) & A HEALING SURGE AGAINST THE HIGH DC FOR 2 SUCCESSES.

 

[Manbearcat]

5 Successes (0 Hard DC Available)/0 Failures/1 Secondary Skills Available

---

A disembodied female voice (channeling "If you build it, they will come" here) whispers from the heavens:

"If you steward the child across my threshold, the malign entities will depart..."

The child must have heard it as well as she reaches out with an exhausted hand toward the steps and the awaiting bosom of the temple's grace. She tries to raise a weak, trembling foot, but she can barely muster the strength...and its clear that the parasitic influence within is fighting her with desperate ferocity.

She clenches her teeth...furrows her brow...scrunches her nose...and attempts to inch forward with your supporting hands. (1)

A roiling voice like two tempests rises from within her tiny form; "WE WILL NOT ALLOW IT!"

The horrific vomit shifts as if alive and gloops toward her (and you). (2)

---

MEDIUM DC

Deal with either (1) or (2) to cinch it. If you fail at either, I'm activating 2 and we're in a combat.

 

[Nephis]

Continuing to channel her life's energy into the child's body, ARUNNY wraps one of her arms firmly around the girl's body, attempting to shield them both from the dreadful sight of the strange, animate vomit. The priestess quickly revises her plan as the body of her charge begins to thrash and scratch and snarl and even to bite. Both arms now enfold the slight body which Arunny desperately drags forward, ignoring the pain and murmuring calming words with what breath she can spare.

The temple stairs never seemed higher than they do right now. One step ... snarl, snap ... another step ... writhe, squirm ... one more step ... stumble, wrench. Arunny almost loses her grip several times, but she - Omthala's Searing Voice - continues to follow Her Voice and to bear the burden of this helpless child.

Finally, they both stumble over the threshold, Arunny pulling the frail girl through an almost solid, gelatinous, wall of purple ... discordance? There are times that the priestess's synesthesia is strange even to herself. She looks down at their waif with a smile. "So, what is your name, dear child?"

---

Arunny uses Primary Skill Endurance to muster herself and the little girl, Qamra, over the threshold: r(9) + 12 = 21 vs 16 Moderate DC: 6 Successes!!

 

[Manbearcat]

XP & LOOT

- 700/2 = 350 xp apiece

- Companion Character Qamra (your call on the build)

- 370 gold (donations by passers-by for the miracle witnessed)

Take Milestone

---

An hour later after clean-up, ministrations, and finding quarters for the child, the conversation has drifted purposefully or incidentally toward Qamra's background.

"I...I...struggle to remember. There is burning fire. There is cold purple all through the landscape of my mind...burning to cinders and choking my memories."

She sits down on her newly acquired cot and rubs her fingers across the material of the mundane bedding.

"This is familiar to me. I slept in a bed much like this...

...hmmmm...there were many of us. Ten?...I think?

On dry nights...most nights were dry...the open sky was a welcome sight...why was the sky open? Why was it so far...like looking up from the bottom of a well?"

She scrunches her hands full of bedding material in frustration.

"This doesn't make sense!"

---

Goal: Help Her Remember

Complexity 1, Of-level Skill Challenge (DCs 11, 15, vs NAD 18, vs AC 20)

1 Secondary Skill, all DCs Medium

 

[darkbard]

IBHEA ejaculates, "Qamra, sweet child, you are mistaken! What you say now makes all the sense in the mortal world ... and beyond! A nearly-forgotten holy book of our faith, The Shadowed Sun, contains a long section, the Decateuch, describing ten cosmic vessels who serve as a bulwark against the alien incursion of Caiphon, the Dream Whisperer.

From what you describe, you either experienced or dreamed yourself among these glorified souls. Reading your mystic emanations now, I can sense the great power within. I believe Caiphon, too, or its agents, marked you and your fellows, infected you with a mind-fogging madness to dull your shielding puissance and divert you from the inevitable cosmic clash.

Do you recall details about your fellows? Who they were? If you were physically assembled, or if this transpired in the dream realm?"

---

Ibhea makes an Arcana check to elucidate details from Qamra's story analogically to his heretical scripture, r(13) +11 = 24 vs 15 Moderate DC. Success.

 

[Manbearcat]

1 Successes (0 Hard DC Available)/0 Failures/1 Secondary Skills Available

---

Looking at no one with a thousand yard stare...

"I...I think it was real. Though it seems as you say. We were...many...taken from the temples and our missions in the hinterlands. They said they were priests and they bore the vestments of our Goddess. Into the earth they cast us...down into a great column of sheer walls. So far. They said that if The Mistress of Light did bless us, then she would deliver us.

By the fifth day, some of us did manifest our powers...but She did not give us wings to fly. Our priest-captors did not throw down ropes. When deliverance did not come, we fell into despair. From the earth came a burning voice of fire and destruction. In the night, when the sun retreated, came a celestial orb of blazing purple in the sky. They each promised deliverance..."

She turns away, shame and tears taking her.

Shaking, she will say no more.

---

MEDIUM DC