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.