After concluding your business with Zedoran, you retire to the edge of his lair to rest for a short time before heading out for your confrontation with Whisper at last. The night air is cool, serene, sober. At midnight, Bristle offers her prayers, and receives her blessings in return. Weapons are honed, checked, checked again. Restorative potions are drunk. And then, finally, it is time, and Hester lights Crocutiel's candle.

The flame is white, and unnaturally steady, and looking at it you feel yourself grow a little faint - and then, abruptly, you are elsewhere.

The beach is black sand, glittering in the wan light of the candle. Ahead of you, the sea looks like glass, it's so calm, and in the distance is a speck of green. Behind, the jungle looms, all dense growth and heavy underbrush.

As the candle burned, Hester had a strange sensation that she knew this place.  She could probably find her way around.  The voice at the back of her mind, not Whisper's voice but the other voice, the truly alien voice called on Hester to use more magic and allow herself to transform into the thing that spoke to her.

Hester pushed the voice back down.  It was the human part of her that would win this fight, not the aberrant.  "Everybody okay?", she asked in a voice that was barely more than a whisper.

Caleb had spent the last stretch of time preparing, coating his many bolts in the poison to keep Whisper dead, hefting and getting a proper feel for the orb the demon had given them to keep her in one place. As long as he worked he wasn't pacing, worrying about Robin.

Eventually though, there was nothing left to do physically, and so he turned to a new habit of his, prayer. He knelt on the ground, the symbol hanging from his neck and weighing down on him in every sense of the word, his lips moving quickly but silently as he entreated the Goddess for whatever guidance she saw fit to give him in the final moments. Evidently she was listening, as a small corona of light shined for the briefest moment around his head before fading.

Before the candle was lit, he stood, and cleared his throat. "Before we go, there's one more thing. The Seraph spoke to me, said that the Goddess had given us a token of her own favor. Hold still a second," he said, raising his hand to place two fingers on everyone's brow, a golden sun blazing in his palm. His task done, he stood back and drew his crossbow, not a trace of worry left on his face, abandoned in favor of grim acceptance.

Once they had been deposited on the beach, Caleb quickly scanned the treeline for movement before nodding to Hester. "Timer's started, let's go."

ooc: Using my fancy new Illumination Inquisition, I'd like to use my Illuminating Touch on everyone. For the next hour or until such time as they use it, everyone gets a +1 on a single Will saving throw, Knowledge check, Perception check, or Sense Motive check.

Her voice was soft and quiet as she looked at Caleb. "Whatever the future holds from this point, I am glad I met you." She said with a gentle nod.

Then she looked at everyone else. "All of you."

Then she nodded once. "Now lets do this."

After Bristle had been directed to the body of the dragon she had been given permission to animate, the cleric probably spent more time than she should have merely soaking in the sight. It was dark and there was no light, but thankfully Bristle didn't need light to be able to see. She ran a hand over its scaly skin and thought about how normally she would have let everything but the bones be harvested first so that they wouldn't go to waste. But right now there was not time for such luxuries. Bristle had a spell to cast.

She could tell that the amount of power the reanimation would require was right at the edge of her abilities. Even with the Desecrated area Zedoran had provided. And so Bristle first prayed to her deity before casting, requesting the power needed to help bring down the foe that had evaded Death for so long.

And her request was granted! Bristle could feel the negative energies of Death flowing through her in ways they never had before. Her connection to the divine felt more potent than before.

And so Bristle arranged the vast majority of her stash of onyx gems upon the body of the adult green dragon before her and cast her magic. She held her unholy symbol in one hand as she spoke the words and invoked the spell, then, inspired by their encounter with Frilogarma, Bristle completed the spell by touching the dragon body with a gentle kiss to the great horn on its snout.

Necromantic energy crackled instantly across its skin like lightning, leaving jagged black gashes in the dragon's flesh. The muscle and skin immediately loosened and began to fall to the ground as the dragon's bones arose from the heap of gore. The red-stained skeleton of a dragon loomed over Bristle, ready to do her bidding.

---

Later that evening, after preparing her spells, Bristle met with the others for the lighting of Crocutiel's candle. But she wasn't alone. She rode on on her skeletal dragon, of course, hanging off its side like a person hanging off the side of a stagecoach. Her skeletal bear was there too. But so were a handful of other skeletons. Two wolves, a draft horse, and two humanoid skeletons in all. "I figured now was as good a time as any to use the undead stored in my Robe of Bones. They are my earlier work though, so try not to judge them too harshly. I have gotten much better at making them since then. And don't feel bad if they get decimated. They are here to be a buffer for you guys. Sacrificial fodder, if you will. Remember, most of you should still have a little buddy on you too, to wake you up if you are put to sleep."

She assigned the humanoids to protect Firea, the draft horse to protect Hester, one wolf each to protect Voh'ren and his pup, and her bear to protect Caleb. She specifically made sure they would protect against non-party members and minions. So hopefully no in-fighting would accidentally occur.

As final words were being said, Bristle replied to Firea. "I am glad I have met all of you as well, and genuinely hope we all make it back alive. I guess that means I consider you guys to be friends, eh?" The changeling grinned a tusky grin, then got down to the business of casting last second spells after making sure all her scrolls, vials, and other assorted items were still in their proper place. (She carried much more than usual outside of her haversack at the moment.) She didn't have much to offer in the way of spells until they reached their destination. Just a Read Magic spell for herself and some Guidance for everyone (in case an immediate threat appeared the second they were transported). She also made sure to mention she planned on casting Status on everyone the second they were through the jungle and the candle had burnt out.

Then the candle had been lit and Bristle found herself staring at black sand below her feet. She had decided to keep her gaze downward for safety until they knew which way to go. "Let's kill this witch bitch!" Bristle exclaimed in reply to the others, then headed toward the jungle.

---

I cast Read Magic on myself, and Guidance on everyone (For flavor. Guidance will fizzle long before we get where we are going.)

Also, everyone gets a skeletal guard to shadow them! I used the Command Undead feat to control them all (took two attempts). See above for what has been assigned to whom.

Hester turns toward the jungle and walks toward it, seeking a way in.  She drew her rapier and wherever she could, she used it to ease any tendrils or thorns blocking her path gently out of her way.  "Come," she said and led the way into the jungle, holding the candle high.

"Follow Hester and focus on the candlelight," Voh'ren says to the restored and reinvigorated Kiru. It almost looks as though the wolf-pup nods in response.

"And don't pay heed to anything that might distract you, Kiru," he adds while drawing his longbow. "Look to the candlelight and follow."

The jungle is dense, and heavy, and filled with strange scents you cannot name. It quickly grows dark, the canopy above obscuring the pale light of the sunless sky in this alien realm. It feels like the undergrowth grabs at you, vines reaching out to catch your feet, thorny branches almost seeming to lash out at you as you pass. Voh'ren, moving with the grace of his profession and the assistance of Chance's ring of mistletoe, has no difficulty with the plant life, and is able to ease it somewhat for the others. But everyone else is quickly bleeding from small scratches left by the thorns and brambles.

The candle is the only light, giving a small bubble of white light that holds the darkness at bay - barely large enough for everyone to fit inside. It's soon apparent what Crocutiel meant, as the flame burns brighter when facing some directions than others - though what those directions are makes no sense in traditional geometry. Sometimes it has you retrace steps, though the path back is not the one you took moments ago. Once, in a particularly arduous moment, you have to climb through the branches of an enormous tree, before ending up on the ground again with its uppermost branches forming a shrub around you.

It is an alien realm, truly, and nothing seems to make sense. You see eyes in a plethora of colors gleaming at you from the darkness, some of them occurring in strange numbers or shapes. And you hear them whisper...



And on, and on. The flame burns lower. Minutes tick by with no indication that you're getting closer. The darkness presses in close around you, the eyes drawing nearer.

A minute left on the clock. It's starting to seem as though you won't make it when, ahead, you see a shimmer in the air. It darts around unpredictably, jittering, but you can see the candle react every time. You have thirty seconds left on the timer, plus two. You're ten feet away from the doorway to Whisper's hiding place.

Hester, with her incredibly long arms, reached out that finale ten feet to touch the edge of the doorway and told the others.  "When you're ready, proceed before me but hurry.  I'll follow last in case the candle takes its light with me."

Voh'ren furrows his brow as the voices attempt to break through his resolve. Each comment contain truths, unimpeachable truths in vacuum. However, he draws on his memories of what Ascal has done to shed context on them. People have had their will---their ability to choose their paths in life---stripped from them for a moment of convenience. Lives are ruined or cut short merely to further her selfish endeavors. No, perhaps she has not posed a threat to Voh'ren himself, but her ambition would interfere with the Eternal Cycle of Life and Death that the Green maintains. It would strip countless beings of their volition. It would sacrifice the lives himself, Kiru, and his newfound friends.

Armed with these memories, Voh'ren marches forward. He places a reassuring hand on Kiru, scratching scruff of the wolf-pup's neck.

"Step lively," he says to both himself and his companion. "We have no time to waste."

Voh'ren nods at Hester's suggestion.

"We shall go," he says, "and see you on the other side." With those words, the Half-Orc Ranger and his wolf-pup step across the threshold and toward destiny...

Caleb may not have understood this new realm, but he knew plenty about marching for hours. He followed quietly, weapon ready and his mind set. Over and over in his mind he repeated a mantra, Whisper must die. They’d come too far, and too much hinged on their success. There could be not other outcome. He would allow no other outcome.

He smirked and even chuckled a bit at the whispers, breaking his stony expression briefly. Their idea of torment was what he already knew about himself? He knew most of it was true, but he knew what he was, and had long since accepted it. The whispers had no power over him, not now. It was a relief to reach the door though, because it meant it was all nearly over. He paused, and whispered one final prayer, a light spreading from the symbol on his neck and sinking into his hands. He approached the door, holding the crossbow in one hand and hefting the demon’s orb in another, and looked back to the others he had found himself with on this journey. “If we all die, I want you all to know it’s been an honor. If you all make it out and I don’t, try to bring my body back to my parents in Almas, their names are Daniel and Sarah Miller. Tell them I finally gave up being a mercenary, and died trying to be a good man for once.” With that all said, he waited for everyone else to finish their last preparations, and followed Voh’ren inside.

Ooc: casting one last spell on myself before go time, Divine Favor. For the next two minutes I have a +1 on attack and weapon damage rolls.

Bristle followed through the jungle, apprehensive about getting stranded outside the candle's light. As they walked, she tried (and failed) to make sense of the geography and local wildlife. She would have loved to use her magic to determine if the plants scratching everyone up were poisonous, but did not dare cast even her weakest spells out of fear it might disrupt the candle's magic.

The whispers from the wild were a bit unnerving too. They tried to waver her devotion to Death, but it seemed they did not truly understand the nature of her faith. They asked her if she thought she would be rewarded for her faith in Death when she died. But the joke was on them. The fact that she didn't think she would be rewarded was why she loved Death so much. To Death, everyone was equal. A lowly maggot and an elder god would both eventually be brought into Death's cold embrace. Both Death's most zealous followers and most vehement opposers always met the same fate. And it was beautiful.

And besides, Bristle's "rewards" for her devotion had already been given. As evidenced by the undead horde that now marched under Bristle's command. And also by the spells she was about to bestow. Now that they had come within reach of Whisper's front door, the cleric risked casting a handful of spells during their last few moments. She had prioritized certain spells in her head earlier and now cast the ones she had the time for while the others said their last words.

She touched Caleb and Voh'ren on their shoulders and marked them with magical tracking. Caleb because he was arguably the most important of them, since he wielded both the poison and the orb. And Voh'ren because the skilled tracker seemed most likely to have cause to stray from the rest of the group.

Then she placed some protection from charms and compulsions upon herself, Caleb, and Firea. Caleb for the same reason as before, and Firea because Bristle didn't wand the sorceress's magic turned against them if it was avoidable.

Next Bristle bestowed some fire protection upon herself, Firea, Caleb, Hester, Voh'ren, and even Kiru. That way it wouldn't be quite as disastrous if one of Firea's fire spells went off-course. And of course all of Bristle's skeletons were already immune to Firea's cold magic.

Next Bristle took a moment to protect herself with a simple Sanctuary spell. Then proceeded to cast a Blessing of Fervor upon everyone in the last few moments before there was no time left for preparations. What everyone had would have to be enough.

Bristle nodded to Caleb's request, then moved to follow Voh'ren. Her heart pounding and her minions following close behind their designated charges. "Here we go."

---

Casting these 5 spells, in this order (durations already doubled):
Status - Targeting Caleb, Voh'ren - 16 hour duration
Suppress Charms and Compulsions - Targeting self, Caleb, Firea - 20 minutes
Communal Resist Energy (fire 20) - Targeting main party, including Kiru - 20 minute duration (40 for Bristle and Caleb)
Sanctuary - Targeting self - 16 round duration
Blessing of Fervor - Targeting main party, including Kiru - 16 round duration

You step through the shimmering light, as the candle gutters, and arrive in...a peaceful atrium. It stands in stark contrast to the jungle outside, all groomed growth, gentle gravel paths, and splashes of sunlight from the skylights above. The air is filled with harp music, gentle and relaxing though you are anything but relaxed.

Whisper is standing right in front of you, toying with a curl of her red hair, smiling.

Whisper is standing off to the left, playing with a wand on her belt.

Whisper is over to the right and further back. This one is examining her nails.

Whisper is behind you to the left. She grins and waves.

Whisper is ahead of you, sitting in the boughs of a tree. She takes a bite from a fresh peach.

"We've been expecting you, so glad you could make it," they say in unison. Each raises one hand to point at Caleb, and a cylinder of icy air surrounds everyone, as hailstones slam down around them.

9 bludgeoning and 6 cold to everyone, and off to the races. She beat everyone on initiative, so it goes her and then everyone else in a block.

You can roll sense motive to identify which is the actual Whisper.

"Which witch is the real witch?" Bristle asked as she held her shield high to try and block some of the hail. It clanged loudly against the metal. She watched disappointedly as many of her undead guardians were busted to oblivion by Whisper's initial strike. Even with those distractions though, Bristle did her best to answer her own question.

---

Using Caleb's blessing to boost my sense motive.
07:07, Today: Bristle Chonk rolled 17 using 1d20+12.  Sense Motive, with Caleb's illumination: real Whisper

How far away are the Whispers? Are they within 40 feet of Bristle? Is the closest one within striking range of her dragon?

Also, 9 bludgeoning damage was just enough to take out all of Bristle's skeletons except for the dragon and bear. So that will save on a lot of complicated combat posts for me. ;-)

Hester stepped through the doorway already wielding her rapier.  She tried to guess which was the real Whisper, assuming they weren't all real and then moved onto the attack.

22:05, Today: Hester Darkeye rolled 12 using 1d20+8.  Sense motive (which is the real Whisper?).
22:07, Today: Hester Darkeye rolled 17 using 1d20+10.  +1 Rapier.

Caleb narrowed his eyes, taking in each of the copies of Whisper, looking for any sort of tell to indicate which one was real. His eyes passed over them quickly before stopping. There, in the back, playing with her nails. Far too calm about this whole thing, too self assured. "Found you," he said, wasting no time in hefting the orb, and threw it overhand, aiming at her head before bringing his crossbow up and firing a trio of arrows at her, aiming for center mass.

ooc: making a ranged attack with the orb as part of my full attack, following up with a trio of attacks from my crossbow. The result of the orb attack is 30, and the results of my crossbow attacks are as follows; 20,18, 18. Damage is 17, 13, and 14. Clustered shots means damage is totaled before any DR comes into play.

Don't forget to choose your Blessing for the round!
https://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic.../blessing-of-fervor/

---

"Dragon, attack that one. Bear attack that one," Bristle commanded her skeletons even as she moved to an advantageous position. She had directed them toward the nearby Whisper and the wand-Whisper respectively. She figured right now the bear would be able to be a better defender to Caleb by distracting one of the other Whispers.

Bristle then cast her Prayer spell, causing a burst of luck to envelop both her friends and enemies. Her friends got good luck, and her enemies bad luck.

Then her dragon struck the nearby Whisper with it's full fury, using tooth, claw, wing, and tail to try and bring her low. Whether she was the true Whisper or not. The bear similarly charged its target, teeth gnashing viciously on its lipless face.

---

Bristle's Actions (HP at 29/44)
Free action: Talk, sense motive, choose blessing
Move: Move to affect as many Whispers with Prayer as possible, but for sure trying to get the one Caleb called out. I will use the speed Blessing if needed. If not needed, I will use the AC/reflex save Blessing.
Standard: Cast Prayer, giving all allies within 40 feet (all) a +1 luck bonus on attack rolls, weapon damage rolls, saves, and skill checks, while each foe in that same area takes a -1 penalty on such rolls. Lasts for 8 rounds.
https://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic/all-spells/p/prayer/

Dragon's Actions (HP at 106/108 thanks to fast healing 7 and cold immunity)
Full-round action: full attack with all its natural weapons. (Edit: I just noticed Prayer is a mind-affecting spell. It doesn't affect undead, so I had to subtract 1 from all the dice roller results.)
Bite: hits AC 26 for 24
Claw 1: hits AC 26 for 17
Claw 2: hits AC 30 for 20
Wing 1: hits AC 14 for 10
Wing 2: hits AC 23 for 7
Tail: Nat 1, miss

Bear's Actions (HP at 25/32 thanks to fast healing 2 and cold immunity)
Full-round action: charge up to 80 feet to bite the wand-wielding Whisper. (+2 bonus on the attack roll and a –2 penalty to its AC until the start of next turn.) (Edit: I just noticed Prayer is a mind-affecting spell. It doesn't affect undead, so I had to subtract 1 from all the dice roller results.)
Bite: hits AC 22 for 9
This message was last edited by the player at 03:40, Mon 16 Aug 2021.

Voh'ren grunts as the hail slams into him. He launches into an attack at the Whisper Caleb throws the orb at, praying that it is the right one. He drops his bow midstride, drawing his falchion with practiced grace. As he moves, he whistles at Kiru to let the wolf know to go for a flank.

Voh'ren makes a wild swing at the target. Kiru leaps forth and tries to sink his teeth in his prey once in place for a flank.

OOC:

Might as well:
22:34, Today: Voh'ren Wildheart rolled 24 using 1d20+14.  Sense Motive.

Blessing: Both Voh'ren and Kiru will take the +2 bonus on attack rolls and +2 Dodge bonus to Reflex and AC

Voh'ren vs. Whisper in Tree: Power-Attack with falchion
22:41, Today: Voh'ren Wildheart rolled 18 using 1d20+15.  Power Attack vs. Whisper in Tree.

Kiru vs. Whisper in Tree:
22:42, Today: Voh'ren Wildheart rolled 16 using 1d20+10.  Kiru vs. Whisper in Tree.

I'm assuming both of those miss.

Whisper's confident grin falters on five faces as Caleb immediately targets the one looking at her nails. The orb strikes her in the head and...explodes, but not in the conventional sense. Rather, the bands of glass seem to expand outwards, runes blazing with blue light, passing through solid objects and living tissue, until they surround you, forming a sphere that encloses much of the atrium. Then the first bolt strikes home, bronze and ash wood from the time of Taldor's youth, coated in poison extracted and refined by a true dragon of great wyrm stature, and -

The world screams. There's no other way to put it. Whisper herself shakes, but so does the world around you, glass panes rattling in the windowframes, trees swaying, a loud scream of pain emanating from everywhere at once.

The undead that still stand strike the Whisper illusions, and they vanish with flickers of light and faint scraping sounds. And then Voh'ren hits Whisper with the falchion, steel and magic interwoven. The blade seems to slide through her flesh without cutting, almost, as though she were only partially there - nothing like the solid thunks of the bolts.

Firea throws her hands forward, fingers twisting through a gesture, and Whisper cries out as her magical protections are shredded by a dispelling.

But then Whisper, once called Ancal of the Chanac, gathers herself. She has not stood all these thousands of years to be brought down by such as this. She draws herself upright and speaks an incantation that few would dare, drawing up the flames of Hell itself. She casts them forth at Caleb in a lance of black fire that seems to drain light from the room, a flame that hurts even to be in the same room with as though your soul is cringing away from the darkness below.

It strikes Caleb, but a golden radiance seems to cling to him despite the dark flames, and while they burn him badly, they don't rip his soul out and drag it back to the Pit like she was hoping. Whisper seethes with poorly concealed rage at this.

OOC: Okay, a lot happening here. Taking it in order:
The orb hits, and does what it's supposed to do, this room is now under a super-powered dimensional lock. That means no summoning, no teleporting, no plane shifts, for anyone.
One crossbow bolt hits, carrying the poison. Caleb is correct about the Whisper clones, this is the real one and the others are illusory.
The undead wipe out two illusionary Whisper clones.
Voh'ren hits, Kiru misses though. Voh'ren is aware that the falchion isn't doing as much as he'd expect, she has some kind of DR. OOC, I'll tell you for free it's DR/epic that has a special condition of being bypassed by Chance's ancient weapons.
Firea, NPC'd for the round, casts dispel magic and nat 20's the CL check, dispelling greater heroism.
Whisper casts hellfire ray and targets Caleb, rolls low on damage.

Top of the round for you.

Hester still has her rapier in hand but it's her sleeves that whisper should watch out for.  From point blank range, she shoots a needle into Whisper.  Then she tries unsuccessfully to somersault away ready for the next round.

22:15, Today: Hester Darkeye rolled 21 using 1d20+9.  fire needle.
Damage is 1 point plus one point per round until Whisper takes a full round action to remove it.
(I'm hoping this uses up some of her DR.)
22:21, Today: Hester Darkeye rolled 13 using 1d20+11.  Acrobatics, moving safely through threatened square.

Caleb had little time to enjoy his success, taking the gout of hellfire to the chest. It nearly bowled him over from sheer force, but mercifully it ended quickly. He clutched his chest, grateful for the magic that had probably saved his life there, and raised his weapon once more.
“That hurt like Hell, but not bad enough. Kill me if you want, it doesn’t matter now you got that poison in you. It’s over Ascal, time to pay for your sins,” He said, the same corona of golden light from before manifesting around his head and hands as he took aim, firing several shots at the witch.

As a swift action, I invoke my judgment ability, specifically Justice for a +1 to my attack rolls. As a free action I burn a point of grit for a deadeye shot to target her touch ac four the round,”. Lastly, for my attack, I will use blessing of fervor’s extra attack ability to fire four times at Whisper. The results of those attacks are as follows; 24, natural 1, 18, and natural 20 for 36, confirming roll of 21. Damage is as follows;15, 18, and 56, totaled before DR. Furthermore, grit is regained on the crit, unless by some bizarre cosmic joke Whisper does not have equal to or more than half my HD.

Bristle would have been in awe of the hellfire if it hadn't been directed at her team. But as it was, the cleric prepared to cast another spell of her own. She had been deciding whether to heal herself or Caleb, or to target Whisper with Enervation, but then she noticed something peculiar. Her homemade Deathwatch Eyes were picking up something that didn't quite make sense. Something that gave Bristle cause to worry.

She knew what she had to do next.

"Dragon, bite her from the far side over there. Bear, charge the other one over there!" Bristle then dug the heels of her armor into the floor and entered a clumsy charge toward Whisper, aiming for the space between Voh'ren and Kiru that Hester had freed up. Her armor clanged loudly with every step. She held her shield in front of her and extended a clawed hand out to the side, ready to strike.

But she wasn't aiming to maim. She needed only the barest touch to extract what she needed. Information. Bristle sensed there were layers to what was currently happening that they were not aware of, and she knew that that lack of knowledge could be their downfall.

So the cleric's claw lashed out even as her dragon flanked Whisper from the far side, making an attack of its own. "Lay your secrets bare to me, Ascal," Bristle hissed.

---

Bristle is Charging Whisper to try and use her Knowledge Domain: Lore Keeper ability. It requires a touch attack, then she learns info as if she had rolled a 30 on the appropriate knowledge roll against the foe.
https://www.d20pfsrd.com/class...ns/knowledge-domain/

Bristle's Actions: (HP at 29/44)
Free: speak, choose blessing (+2 to attack, AC, and Reflex)
Full-round action: charge Whisper for touch attack
(Attack should get +2 for charge, +2 for flanking, +1 for Prayer, +2 for blessing. Totalling +14.)
Hits touch AC 17 for 0 damage. (But uses Lore Keeper ability)
Note: I believe this nullifies Bristle's Sanctuary spell. Also, her AC bonus and penalties cancel out to her normal AC amount.

Dragon Actions: (HP at 108/108)
Move: move up to 40 feet to behind Whisper to flank. (If Whisper gets an AoO, oh well.)
Standard: Bite attack, with flank.
Bite hits AC 32 for 25 damage.

Bear actions: (HP at 27/32)
Full-round action: Charge nearest Whisper-clone and bite.
Bite hits AC 18 for 7 damage

As the last bolt of Caleb's salvo strikes, Whisper's form flickers and dissolves. The two remaining images of her both laugh, one of them being interrupted by the skeletal bear striking it...and it does not dissolve, instead starting to bleed a little.

So the ones left are, I think, the near one that the bear hit, and the one in the tree. Flipped a coin which one she changed places with, and it turns out bear got a hit in.

A growl starts to grow in Voh'ren's throat as the battle continues. He is about to unleash a flurry of swings when Kiru's high-pitched whine grabs his attention. The Half-Orc manages to suppress the Orcish rage starting to take hold of his blood and turns to his companion.

"What is it, friend?"

OOC:

22:33, Today: Voh'ren Wildheart rolled 28 using 1d20+17.  Handle Animal-Kiru.

Hester let's the undead finish the fight while she breaks off and looks for a way to get down towards the true centre of Whisper's power, wherever that may be.

Rolled 24 (perception)

Kiru is looking intently at a particular garden plot within the atrium, and appears to think it smells like Whisper. Hester, similarly, sees that plot as being a hair too perfect, too clean, too orderly.

Whisper, meanwhile, utters a curse - not in the normal sense of an expletive, but a true curse, thick and vile syllables rolling off of her tongue.

Voh'ren has to make a Fortitude save at DC 20 or be nauseated for 11 rounds, saving again each round.

The garden plot Hester and Kiru detect something odd about is twenty feet away, easily reachable with a move action.

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.