Voh'ren's lips curl into a snarl as a wave of nausea explodes in his gut and sears into his forehead. However, his Orcish blood rage burns the sensation away. He turns to where Kiru is pointing and charges toward the spot, whistling for Kiru to follow suit. As he moves, he drops his falchion and draws the Chanac chieftain's axe. He deftly twirls it as he slashes through the air near the garden plot, with Kiru snapping between slashes...

OOC:

Choosing +2 atk, AC, and dodge blessing

21:33, Today: Voh'ren Wildheart rolled 20 using 1d20+10.  Fort Save DC 20. Phew!
22:01, Today: Voh'ren Wildheart rolled 20 using 1d20+18.  Atk w/ Handaxe (Pwr Atk, Flank and Charge). lmao
22:02, Today: Voh'ren Wildheart rolled 11 using 1d6+9.  Dmg if that hits).
22:03, Today: Voh'ren Wildheart rolled 12 using 1d20+10.  Kiru-Bite. Double lmao

Voh'ren charges at the plot of flowers, only to miss a step and fall...into the flowers, vanishing.

"This is the way down", says Hester, pointing to the place where Vohren has fallen.  "It leads to the centre of her power.  Did someone give something to Caleb?  If so, somebody needs to heal him or bring it with us.  Let's not mess this up."

She concentrates on the place and seeks to see through the illusion.

18:51, Today: Hester Darkeye rolled 19 using 1d20+11.  Perception.
18:51, Today: Hester Darkeye rolled 7 using 1d20+6.  Will save.
Not sure which of these I need.

Caleb paused as Whisper vanished and a bolt soared through an illusion's eye, and had already begun to look for any sign of her presence before Voh'ren attacked and subsequently fell into a flowerpot. For a brief moment his focus flickered before Hester explained, and he too began to scrutinize the plant in greater detail.

rolling Will to disbelieve the illusion, with a result of 27.

Bristle had been so preoccupied with what she had learned from touching Whisper that she almost hadn't even noticed Voh'ren fall through the floor. "Voh'ren!" Bristle exclaimed as the half-orc disappeared. But then her Status spell revealed he had been more inconvenienced than injured.

"He's fine," she reported, then refocused on the more imminent threats. "A couple of you go ahead. We got this. Dragon, move there between the Whispers. Dragon and bear, rip that Whisper to shreds!" She directed them to attack the figure the witch seemed to currently be inhabiting.

Even while she spoke, Bristle had been repositioning herself, using her Blessing of Fervor to increase her maneuverability. She moved to a spot between the Whispers near her dragon, where she would be within 30 feet of each of them, but at least 35 feet from all of her living allies. She then clutched the unholy symbol of her deity and prayed an unholy prayer. Negative energy burst out, enveloping both of the Whispers as well as herself. Her own wounds began to close, but she hoped Whisper's wounds would only multiply.

---

Bristle is having her bear do a full-attack on Whisper. Her dragon will do a bite on the same target. She positioned her dragon directly between the two so that it can potentially make a full attack against either next round. (It takes up a 15 foot square and has 10 foot reach, giving it a 35 foot danger-zone.) Bristle is trying to get both Whispers in range of her Channel Energy while avoiding allies. It is a 30 foot radius burst, so Bristle will have a 60 foot wide danger-zone.

Bristle's Actions: (HP 40/44, thanks to negative energy healing)
Free: talk, choose +30 foot speed Blessing, Illusory garden will save, with Prayer boost: 18
Move action: move up to 40 feet to get into good channeling position.
Standard action: channel negative energy
Bristle Channel Negative Energy damage: 11
The Whispers (or unfortunate allies) can make a DC 17 will save for half damage. Whispers get -1 on saves due to Prayer, and allies get +1. Bristle heals 11 thanks to a domain power.

Dragon Actions: (HP full)
Move action: move up to 40 feet to position self between two remaining Whispers.
Standard action: bite "real" Whisper.
Dragon bites AC 20 (22 if flanking) for 25 damage.

Bear actions: (HP 29/32)
Full-round action: full attack
Bite hits AC 16 (18 if flanking) for 8 damage
Claw 1 hits AC 21 (23 if flanking) for 10 damage
Claw 2 hits AC 17 (19 if flanking) for 6 damage

The change of scenery momentary perplexes Voh'ren. He squeezes the handle of his axe in frustration as he tries to make sense of what has happened. The more he considers his surroundings, the more he suspects that this is a place of importance to Whisper. Why else would she go through the effort of hiding it from sight?

"Kiru, that scent you found? Track it," he says to the wolf-pup. As Kiru takes the lead, Voh'ren keeps his eyes open for anything important...

OOC:

21:33, Today: Voh'ren Wildheart rolled 19 using 1d20+17.  Handle Animal-Track Trick (DC 10).
21:34, Today: Voh'ren Wildheart rolled 25 using 1d20+14.  Perception.

Not sure if I need those rolls or if it is my turn to act, but I figured I'd get them up.

The illusory Whisper vanishes in the wave of necromantic power, and moments later the last Whisper present falls to the dragon's assault, leaving behind nothing, no corpse nor clothing nor anything at all.

Caleb and Hester see a stairway leading down, stone shot through with tiny threads of silver. It descends perhaps ten feet to an expansive room of stone. At the far side of this room is a crystalline structure that fills the space between floor and ceiling, from which emanate countless tiny threads of silver.

Voh'ren, meanwhile, follows Kiru straight to the crystal. While there's no sign of Whisper presently, the wolf remains convinced that this structure stinks of her, and upon closer examination he can see why.

If it's still there, Hester draws her crossbow from her handy haversack and returns her rapier to its sheath. Otherwise she simply somersaults into the room below, keeping contact with the stairs to a minimum. Either way, she asks, "Should we destroy it?"

Caleb followed Hester in much the same fashion, and eyed the crystal warily. His newfound understanding of magic was limited, too much so by far to truly grasp the workings of this thing in front of him, but he knew enough about Whisper to know it would never be so simple as breaking her crystal. “Let Bristle have a look first, for all we know breaking this thing could make this castle explode or something,”  He said to Hester, though he leveled his crossbow at the structure as well.

"Perhaps it might," Voh'ren replies. "If it will, then I shall destroy it. Frilogarma said we must be prepared to sacrifice everything. I am prepared. I only ask that you take Kiru back to the Verduran Forest. It is where we first found each other, and the home of his pack."

As Voh'ren asks the favor of the group, Kiru begins to whine. Voh'ren gives his friend a sad smile, and kneels down to be eye level with the wolf-pup.

"I hope this is not where our paths diverge, but I will not ask you to make this sacrifice. Besides, they will need your skills to escape this place." Voh'ren taps the wolf's nose.

As each of the others approaches, they see what Voh'ren already has. Behind the crystal, encased in it, is...Whisper. But where she has always before seemed young and beautiful, this is an older form of her, red hair going to grey and scars on her face and hands. Her eyes are closed, and she seems to be in a state of suspended animation. Each and every thread of silver traces back to this figure.

With the Whisper-foes no longer present, Bristle spun in place searching for a new threat. But with none presenting itself, she ordered her bear and dragon to follow her and rushed to catch up with the others. Even going so far as to use her Blessing to boost her speed.

She wasn't exactly sure what her next move would be when she caught up with the others, but after seeing the crystal with Whisper inside, Bristle couldn't help but pause and contemplate it. The cleric hastily bestowed Guidance and Detect Magic upon herself (she wanted to take full advantage of her Prayer spell while she could), and began studying the giant jewel. "Let me have a look here…" She accessed what knowledge she could, using her Deathwatch Eyes, her Detect Magic, her Lore Keeper touch ability, and even went so far as to pull out her Any-tool to make some tests and measurements on the crystal itself using her skills as a talented jeweler.

---

Roll Results (all with boosts from Prayer and Guidance if possible):
Knowledge: Arcana = 18 (also, Lore Keeper?)
Spellcraft = 26
Perception = 23 (Deathwatch, detect magic)
Craft: Jewelry = 36

Scanning the crystal with her Deathwatch vision, Detect Magic, and touching it with her Lore Keeper knowledge domain ability (if possible).

I imagine her Prayer and Blessing of Fervor buffs should be wearing off about now too. Does her dragon fit in the crystal room?


This message was last edited by the player at 08:37, Sun 22 Aug 2021.

Hester examined the silver threads to see for herself whether they were made of metal and particularly of silver.  If so, she imagines they may be susceptible to acid.  She turns to the others and says, "If we can get this open, we could push the last gift up her ass and cage her for a long long time."

11:06, Today: Hester Darkeye rolled 18 using 1d20+9.  Appraise - are these threads silver?

Analyses are made while Whisper's body, beneath the crystal, remains still.

Caleb watched Bristle make her inspections, deep in thoughts of his own as he seemingly mulled something over before a look of sudden realization dawned on him as Hester mentioned locking Whisper away. “Rot burns under the light… Wait, I just realized something,” He said, a triumphant grin beginning to form on his face. “Wren just sent me a message, some kind of Sending. She’s decoded Halson’s journal, and it’s a proverb. “Rot burns under the light of the sun”. I read that one in the book the priests gave me, it’s about purification. This is just a guess, but I’m thinking Whisper uses this fancy rock here to control her puppets. I could try calling on the Goddess, maybe use it to purge her from the real world. What do you all think?”
This message was last edited by the player at 20:23, Sun 22 Aug 2021.

"Do as you see fit," Voh'ren replies, "but remember that while we may have stopped her here, she may still be acting in our world.

"Kiru," he says turning to his companion, "Can you lead me back to the surface? I would fetch my weapons."

OOC:

If I can, I'd like to go back and pick up my dropped longbow and falchion and then return back to the others.

"I would advise against breaking open the crystal," Bristle said hastily as the topic came up several times. "Destroying the crystal might hinder Whisper for a little while, but it certainly won't kill her. It will only release her. And she will be the full-power version of Whisper. The original. We would hardly stand a chance..." Bristle shuddered at the thought. The clones they had faced possessed potent enough magic as it was. What terrible magics could the true Whisper wield?

Bristle continued to share what she had discovered. She pointed one clawed finger along one of the silvery threads. "See these? Each thread represents one of Whisper's descendants. The brighter the strand, the stronger the connection to whisper. This place is a powerful ritual focus that allows Whisper to trace her descendants and target them for Possession." She looked pointedly at Hester, since she was known to be a descendant of Whisper. "One of these threads certainly connects to you, Hester. As one of her descendants, spilling a bit of your blood on the crystal would cause it to begin deteriorating. So, please avoid bleeding on it for the time being."

Bristle took a deep breath, then added just a bit more of what she knew. "What's more, when I touched Whisper while we were fighting her upstairs, I discovered that she is a Familial Lich. As long as one of her descendants continues to live, she can eventually worm her way back into existence. I am sure there is magic that can sever that connection though, if cast from this demiplane. Perhaps it is related to the proverb you mentioned Caleb? “Rot burns under the light of the sun”? Was that all that was in the Sending? What exactly did Wren have to say?"

She looked over to Firea. "Maybe our blessed shapeshifter could create a big ball of "sunlight" for us and melt all of whisper's silver threads at once? I have no idea if that is the solution though. Or, what would calling on your Goddess entail, Caleb?"

Hester sighed.  "I'd kill myself but I know of at least two of her descendants who have left the planet.  Added to which, given this place is outside time, she is in effect immortal.  How about we take the crystal into time  but a long long time ago?"

Voh'ren is easily able to recover his arms and return to the center of this demiplane.

"Maybe that could work, in theory," Bristle replied. "But that would require being able to move this massive jewel out of this demi-plane, being able to reliably transport it through time, and being able to ensure Whisper couldn't reverse our efforts before dying of old age. None of which I think we can really guarantee. There are too many "ifs"."

With that said, Bristle looked apprehensively at Hester. Almost as if she were nervous to ask her next question. "But... Were you serious, Hester? Were you really willing to give your life to ensure Whisper's demise? Because...: She looked around conspiratorially, like she thought she might get shot for saying her next words. "Because if so, I think I know a way. A way to end this here and now. But... I don't think you will make it home alive, Hester..."
This message was last edited by the player at 08:32, Wed 25 Aug 2021.

"I would if I was the last descendant but what did you have in mind?" Hester looks at Bristle with something that may be approaching suspicion, something she has heretofore reserved for Whisper.

“What does calling on a god always entail?” Caleb said with a shrug,“Prayer. Prayer and blood. There’s a fire in me now, and if I get it on that crystal it’ll open the way for a whole lot more fire to pour in through her, and probably to her descendants if that thing’s connected to them. It might kill her, in fact I’d say it probably will kill her, but her descendants would probably be spared, cleansed of her taint.”

At this, he looked to Hester with a sympathetic look.“I know you said you wanted to be free of her, and I think I can do that, but it might not work that way, and I can practically promise you it’s gonna hurt. A lot.”

Hester's suspicion of Bristle was probably warranted in this instance. Because unlike in the past, this time the cleric's knowledge seemed worth keeping to herself. For Bristle's own safety, if nothing else. But she slowly hinted at what she meant as the cleric of Knowledge and Death began explaining with an analogy.

After taking a deep breath, Bristle's unease began shifting toward something closer to regretful determination. And then hopeful determination as Caleb explained his own insights. "You know how gemstones," she gestured toward the massive crystal nearby, "and crystals, are incredibly hard? How they are almost impossible to break unless you use a massive amount of force or use an even harder gemstone to break them? Well there is also another way. Skilled jewelers like myself know that every gem has a weak spot. Even a diamond will break if you hit it in just the right location. The force of a tiny tap is echoed and multiplied throughout the gem, causing it to shatter into thousands of tiny pieces."

Bristle looked Hester in the eye at this point. Her one brown eye and one green meeting with Hester's inky black orbs. "The crystal here has thousands of silvery threads, but your ARE the last descendant, Hester. They ALL are. I believe I can take them all out with one spell. Shatter Whisper's diamond-of-a-life with a "tap" in just the right spot. Or, at least that is what I had debating about doing. I thought I would have no choice. But with what Caleb said? Maybe if we channel our magic together, we can erase Whisper's connections while preserving those at the ends of them."

"If the thousands are lost, I think it would be worth the cost. But I would prefer not to lose a friend in the process, if possible." Perhaps revealing that Hester friendship was worth a lot to Bristle, but thousands of strangers meant so little was a bit... horrifying. But it was also true.

She looked at each of her fellow party members one by one, then said, "Halson's proverb said “Rot burns under the light of the sun”. So how about I provide the rot, and Caleb provides the sun?" The cleric stood at one end of the crystal, skeletal bear and dragon at her sides, ready to cast Enervation on the crystal if her friends agreed. Or, at the very least, failed to disagree.

Caleb considered Bristle’s idea carefully. It made sense to him, and she’d never steered them wrong yet, but if she was wrong here, it could cost thousands of innocent people their lives. But if Whisper wasn’t stopped, those people would probably die anyway, and so many more, and all of it on his hands for not being able to carry through with the kill. In the end, that was what sealed it. Many things could be said about him, most of it bad, but he’d never let it be said he lost his nerve when it came time to do the dirty work. He shouldered the arquebus, and approached the crystal, nodding to Bristle as he drew his machete. Calmly, deliberately, he rested his palm on it and made a shallow cut, watching his blood well up. He rested his hand over the structure, pausing just long enough to look Whisper in the eye where she was entombed. “I told you Ascal, nowhere left to run. Time to pay for your sins.”

Having gotten the last word, he placed his bloody hand flat on the crystal, and in a calm, deliberate voice, uttered one last prayer, straining with all his will to be heard, to be answered. “Sarenrae, we have done everything you wanted. We followed the trail and we learned the crimes of this witch, Ascal of the Chanac. She has had thousands of years to change her ways, to turn back, and not only did she not do that, she used your own teachings as a weapon against Crocutiel, to plant the seed of hate that brought her low. She has proven herself time and again beyond salvation, for she does not want it. All that can be done now is to end her quickly, so that she can’t destroy any more than she already has. Strike down Ascal Goddess, and cleanse her spawn of her taint. Sarenrae, end this.”

Bristle stands at one side of the crystal, dark magic ready at hand, while Caleb goes to the other and draws a blade. Voh'ren, Hester, and Firea stand ready, weapons and magic prepared.

The lance of enervating power hits the crystal a moment before the first drops of blood from Caleb's hand. Darkness twines through the crystalline structure, then begins to spread out through the web of silver threads, tarnishing them in a steady progression outwards. Hester feels a strange sort of nausea come over here, an illness that doesn't seem rooted in her body.

Then the blood touches it, and crimson-gold light dances through the crystal's facets, following the darkness out and overtaking it as they spread through the silver strands. Light and shadow play and dance among the web, forming intricate patterns and almost-shapes before -

Combustion. The silver explodes with light, burning away in moments. Hester feels pain wash over her, but it feels somehow good, cleansing - like the ache after a day of satisfying labor, or a well-deserved slap. And then the pain fades, not nearly as bad as she might have feared, and with it the sense of unease or longing that she was feeling, the draw towards the crystal vanishing.

The crystal shatters. Whisper staggers out, melting away at the extremities, looking shocked, only for Voh'ren's axe to take her in the neck and slice clean through. No blood comes forth, only mist, and her body dissolves into mist with a soft sighing sound.

The crystal destroyed, tremors begin running through the demiplane around you, reality itself warping as the structural keystone of the pocket dimension breaks. The walls unravel, revealing darkness blacker than the space between stars. It's a race back up to the upper level, where tears are appearing in empty space, blackness showing through and spreading as you dive through the entryway and -

Awaken, near Zedoran's lair in the Fangwood, in the very instant you left at. The skeletal dragon and bear made it through, even, and all the party members are intact. The charm-sight lenses show no signs of infection on any of you. As far as can be determined, you successfully purged Whisper's presence from the world, sending her on at last to face judgment for her many crimes.