The Shattered City: Chapter Three

[Nerit]

Nerit stood by Thierri, her face stern but calm with a set jaw.

"A pity, Katja," she said, somewhat indirectly to the possessed woman's position. "I suggest you disarm her before she does it again. If you think they don't know we're here, well, you thought wrong."

Perception 25

[lostboy]

Nicholas blinks a couple of times just to make sure this wasn't a feverish hallucination. Scowling in disappointment that it wasn't (although secretly pleased his brain was at least making a semblance of working normally), he does soemthign quite astonishingly stupid, or potetially valiant and smoothly interjects himself between Katja and Kerrian.

Staring down the length of the crossbow, his eyes gleam as they bore into katja's one mirrored one. "I suggest you lower the weapon ma chere, before we all get hurt, s'il vous plait." The words weren't particularly venomous but were delivered in a voice that brooked no arguement, and there was an audible click from a duelling pistol being cocked, readied and levelled to back up the threat.

OOC: Intimidate 24 to get Katja to drop the crossbow

[Rock of the Fraternity]

Lia's eyes widen in shock at what has happened -- and narrow in consideration. "Demutatio," she whispers, and makes a hand gesture at Katja. Tiny flecks of blackness spiral out of nothingness, like soot materializing instead of flaking apart -- and start to blacken the warrior woman's mirror-bright eye.

(OOC: One Prestidigitation to blot out the mini-mirror. I was stumped for anything else to do. Incidentally, Lia also holds Shield ready to cast as an interrupt in case she needs it.)

[NeoTiamat]

Catacombs of Port-a-Lucine, Night of April 21st, 770
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Staring down the length of the crossbow, his eyes gleam as they bore into Katja's one mirrored one. "I suggest you lower the weapon ma chere, before we all get hurt, s'il vous plait."

Zweibach didn't respond. One had the feeling that she couldn't. Her face was set, expressionless, unemotional. Rather like Cedolin's had been. There was a trace of hesitation... then Katja dropped the now-unloaded crossbow and drew her sword. It clattered to the ground even as a slithery, metallic sound echoed through the room.

The mirror-eyed woman took a step forward and cut up, the blade ready to remove a few inches of Nicolas's nose. Only the poorly lit conditions and Katja's slowed reflexes allowed him to escape with face intact.

In the dark water, lights began to glimmer. Distant, flashing lights, which moved and shifted and swirled in a bizarre fashion.

[Rock of the Fraternity]

"Nimbus atrox!" Lia says, and throws out a hand. Points of light flash into existence in the empty space between Katja and Kerrian. Flash, then elongate into knife-like shards of energy.

"Someone knock her unconscious or something, before she kills Kerrian!" Lia hisses, a note of distress in her voice. "Hell's bells, how did this happen?"

(OOC: Continuing to keep Shield in readiness in case of unfortunate events. Casting Cloud of Daggers in the space between Katja and Kerrian (if there isn't enough space to do so, please let me know) as a barrier to stop her from attacking him again.)

[Cronax]

Apparently oblivious of Katja's condition until this moment, Mr. Agale raises his voice "Do not hesitate; Restrain her! We cannot afford to engage both her madness and whatever is lurking out there simultaneously."

Nonlethal Cranial Disturbance on Katja 14 vs Fortitude
If it hits, she takes 7 nonlethal force damage and she is knocked prone.

[The Whistler]

"Oh!" Celeste jumped back instinctively, having been walking somewhat close to Kerrian at the time.

The next forty-five seconds were spent pretty much as you'd expect.

"Mlle. Zweibach, how-- Mlle. Zweibach! I say, Mlle. Zweibach! Forgive my intrusion, but are you quite sensible at the...oh, Mlle. Zweibach!"

Skip past quite a lot more of this. By the end, Celeste had actually cottoned on to the gravity of the situation, and was wringing her hands and near tears.

"Oh, tragedy! That one of our very own fellow-lodgers should fall subject to such a condition as befell poor Captain Cedolin...why, it is simply insupportable! I...I shall not allow this doleful circumstance to stand! Perhaps...ah, perhaps there is some means of reversing the process, close as it is to inception... Oh, let our efforts not meet with futility!"

24 Arcana to figure out what exactly is going on with Katja, and/or the best way to fix or forestall it short of knocking her out.

[Nathan of the FoS]

"Something's coming," Darius grates out. "Lights in the water."

Moving forward carefully, he shifts his grip on his longsword and stares at the approaching phantasm.

Soooo...decisions, decisions.

If I am adjacent to an enemy in "readied-action round", I'll use Frigid Blade on it, unless I somehow end up adjacent to two enemies or more, in which case I'll use Sword Burst.

If I'm not adjacent, but am within three squares of an enemy, I'll use Lightning Lure on either the closest (if identical) or the squishiest (if there's any way for me to guess who that is...say "cultist, possible spellcaster" in favor of "mirror-elemental-horror thing").

If there is no enemy within three squares, but there is an enemy within five squares, I will use Unseen Gauntlet (same order of preference as above).

If there is one and only one enemy and it is six squares away and I can charge it, I will do that and use Foesnare.

Here ends Darius' Ready-Round Decision Tree, Book One.

[DocBeard]

Tomas's eyes widen as he tries to peek at Katja's soul. This was sort of a bad idea. His hand snaps to his waist and slashes at the air, just missing Katja's face. The same eerie mirror sheen has filled Eisenwald's eyes as he spits at the ground, pushing off and barreling forward. Sweat drips down the man's brow and neck as he barrels forward, a struggle taking place on the swordsman's face even as his legs pump.

For a moment, it looks like Tomas is going to run Sister Nerit through.

There's a CRACK and a flash of sparks as Eisenwald plows into the side of the wall, sending a long, crooked scratch along the stone. Breathing shallowly, Eisenwald falls on one knee, covering his face with his shield and letting out a low groan. Abruptly, Tomas smashes his shield hand into the ground, cocking his head back and forcing his eyes back open; the mirror sheen is gone.

"I'm okay. I'm okay." Tomas manages, standing back up, "Katja can be snapped out of it, its not as bad as what happened to Celodin. Ivorsen!" The dwarf-forged sword gleams like a rainbow in a puddle after a storm, sending blue light around Tomas and towards the pool of what could charitably be called water. "Its in there, somewhere!"

(OOC: Missed Katja. Just barely missed Nerit. Made my saving throw.)

[Nerit]

Nerit was, for a moment, quite surprised to be the object of an attack. Shocked, even. Then she narrowed her eyes at Tomas. "Stultus!"* she muttered and backed closer to Thierri.

She decided to eye the pool from afar. She might have a hunch, at any rate.

*Fool (Darkonian, not Mordentish )
No idea of Perception results but I'm sure it doesn't matter with the pool all shiny now.
New Perception on pool because I feel useless!: 12. Oh, wait, I'm still useless.
So in that case, Readying Chaotic Defense?

[lostboy]

Nicholas' eyes cross briefly as he watches the blade absently nearly reduce his profile significantly. "Well at least you dropped the crossbow" he drawls unconvincingly keeping one eye on the arcing sword.

Nodding surreptitously to Tomas he refocuses himself on the woman before him, then in an action even stupider than the last, he uncocks the pistol, and lowers it.

"Cherie I do not want to hurt you, no more I suspect than you want ot hurt me or anyone else here. You who guarded us so faithfully, you who laid your life on the line as we all did against the hounds. Come back to us, fight whatever this is that seeks to mesmerise you. Cut me down if you will, I can take it but please ma chere, come back to us."

The look was plaintaintive, his hands raised wide in a gesture of helplessness, the pistol dangling uselessly.

OOC: Diplomacy 32 with words of friendship to talk Katja down or at least try and break the mirror spell thing

[The Whistler]

Celeste was nodding encouragingly throughout most of Nicolas' speech, willing it to have some effect--and then, around three quarters of the way in, straightened up as if electrified, and sprinted over to Tomas. The expression on her face was...urgently exultant? Yes.

"M. Eisenwald! I say, M. Eisenwald--oh, I am beset upon all sides by Inspiration, and you are perhaps the best suited to address it with-- Ah, but no doubt I discount the equally providential expertise of my other comrades--" She made a self-conscious effort to turn and address everyone at once, realized she was wasting time, stopped, and went on.

"...Forgive me, it is only that M. de Castaigne's kind words put to mind a uniquely applicable anecdote, related to me at the behest of my dear friend M. Pierre Saurrate--quite well-situated in the field of Civil Engineering, M. Saurrate, but that is of no importance! To touch upon the heart of the matter--for it is M. Saurrate's regrettable confrontation with a similarly afflicted sanitation official that is pertinent to our present situation!--it is entirely likely that Mlle. Zweibach is under the sway of some arcane domination, the likes of which M. Saurrate was only able to dispel thanks to his particular academic interest in Adventurer's Lore, pertaining to matters Subterranean."

Celeste pronounced that like it was a university department. "I possess nowhere near M. Saurrate's body of knowledge upon the matter...oh, do say that one of our band is similarly expert!"

Read: Katja is being Dominated, and a trained Dungeoneering check will probably let us know how to fix it. I can't make that check! Maybe one of you guys can.

[NeoTiamat]

Catacombs of Port-a-Lucine, Night of April 21st, 770
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"Stultus!"* she muttered and backed closer to Thierri.

Nerit accidentally overstepped herself, bumping her shoulder into the magician's chest. Thierri turned his head to look at Sister Nerit, his eyes reflecting yellow in the torchlight, like a wolf in the darkness.

There was a sharp sound as the magician snapped his fingers, and then he vanished. Some of you had seen this trick before, accompanied with flashy sparks and pyrotechnics. This time, however, he simply melted away from the bottom to the top, leaving nothing but empty air where he had once been.

"Cherie I do not want to hurt you, no more I suspect than you want ot hurt me or anyone else here. You who guarded us so faithfully, you who laid your life on the line as we all did against the hounds. Come back to us, fight whatever this is that seeks to mesmerise you. Cut me down if you will, I can take it but please ma chere, come back to us."

Perhaps it had an effect. Or perhaps not. It was hard to tell. At any rate, Katja didn't attack again, which would have likely have added some marks to Nicolas's good looks that were not pretty duelist's scars. She merely stood there, not moving, not actually breathing that you could tell. Merely standing there, while her mirror-eye gleamed in the near-darkness.

In the black water, the lights continued to flash, an intricate array of glittering stars. The lights were as distant as stars, and as cold.

[Rock of the Fraternity]

Lia abruptly shifts her stance and levels her staff - at Darius. "Sagitta, omne errore vacua, vole!" she hisses, eyes mirror-bright behind her veil. A single dart of force leaps from the glowing crystal atop her staff, headed straight for the Mulan.

The very instant the magic dart flies, however, the Mage staggers and her eyes return to normal. "What...?" she says, looking aghast at her own weapon. "Why did I...? Hell's bells! That wasn't... I didn't mean to do that!"

(OOC: Lia casts Magic Missile at Darius. Attack roll vs. Reflex: 16. Damage roll: 9. She then saves vs. Domination with a roll of 15.)

[lostboy]

Nicholas looks as surprised as anyone that his words had the desired effect and he isn't missing one or more important facial features at this moment.

Keeping one eye on Katja he looks around and shrugs helplessly in response to Celeste's entreatments "I am afraid Mlle, I have little knowledge on such issues, although should we survive this predicament i would heartily consider a crash course. But I think speed might be of the essence whilst I still retain all my vital organs"

"What...?" she says, looking aghast at her own weapon. "Why did I...? Hell's bells! That wasn't... I didn't mean to do that!"

Nicholas also looks aghast for a moment, wondering how many former comrades he might have to face down and relishing what Lia might do to him far less than Ms. Zweibach's sword. Then as if hit by a thunderbolt "The pool! It is the only reflective surface here n'est pas? Is there anything we can use to cover it? Perhaps it may forestall these malign powers!"

OOC: sorry no trained dungeoneering here

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