While Yshtar and the warlock began to struggle Bartimaeus began to weep.

"No! Stop! Don't!" He rose to his knees. "You don't understand!"

"How painful!" He put his hands on his forehead.

"Painful IT IS to know Ygg'traul gu'Unra Mal Thaaum'dIbeth!"

---

OOC:
Cast Dissonant Whispers on the bugger.
11:17, Today: Bartimaeus rolled 13 using 3d6.  DW Damage.
WIS save DC 12 for half

In reply to Bartimaeus (msg # 109):
As the cultist struggles with Yshtar, your spell collides with his mind and is utterly broken upon some mental barrier therein.

Now thoroughly aggravated with how this little ambush has turned out, he reaches out Yshtar one final time, now with a noticeably more cold in his doing so. The grin is gone. The amicable tone has vanished from his voice. There is now only a semblance of a man, aiming to end this as quickly as possible.
“You would turn your blade on an offer knowledge. Such is a slap in the face of all we stand for. I now offer you that knowledge once more. No longer as a gift now, but as a penance. Open your eyes and see, child of ignorance!”

With this, the man lunges forward, his hand locking around Yshtar’s forehead.


Bartimaeus, you watch as, over the span of about 6 seconds, the man reaches out, wraps a hand around Yshtar’s forehead, goes completely pale as a flash of violet light erupts from his palm, and then eases his grip; his own body now seizing violently though his physical connection to Yshtar does not break.

---

12:40, Today: GM, for the NPC Hooded Man, rolled 17 Wisdom Saving Throw, using 1d20+2.
12:53, Today: GM, for the NPC Hooded Man, rolled 19 Grapple Attack using 1d20-1 ((20)).
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:13, Thu 05 Nov 2020.

A whisper of a crone.

"We have such sights to show you."

Yshtar felt like she was old, old as the world itself as she peered into nothingness. She wanted to die, she wanted to scream in the nothingness of the purple light. But most of all she wanted was revenge. However her eyes were still blurry from the assault on her mind a second ago and the man was close. Uncomfortably close for that matter. She missed yet again with her greatsword which was probably too unwieldy for such close quarters fighting. She tried to clear her eyes with tears running down her cheeks.

22:00, Today: Yshtar rolled 10 using 1d20+6.  greatsword atk.

Whispers,
Would you describe the geography? Where those to are in relation to the doorframe?

Also, +1 for Hellraiser hooks.

In reply to Bartimaeus (msg # 112):

The hooded man-thing barely avoids the blade as Yshtar makes her swing at him. Both are clearly exhausted from whatever transpired between them in the past few seconds. Yshtar has not left her spot, just inside the room, about a step away from the doorframe. The creature in the hood, meanwhile, stands shaking and convulsing slightly just a few feet from her; partially in the threshold and partially in the hallway. Though he does not seem to react to them, you can hear the sounds of a struggle ending in the hallway far to the left of the door; back by the staircase leading down to the bar proper.

Bartimaeus dropped the facade, gritted his teeth, and gripped his magic-imbued crosier.

A moment later he had appeared in the hallway behind the cultist, arcing his staff through the air to come down on his head.

---

OOC:
Bonus Action: Misty Step to hallway.
Attack Action: Attack.

23:27, Today: Bartimaeus rolled 23 using 2d20+4, dropping the lowest dice only with rolls of 19,18.  Attack with Advantage.
23:28, Today: Bartimaeus rolled 9 using 1d8+2.  Damage Shillelagh.

In reply to Bartimaeus (msg # 114):

The blow knocks a few teeth from the man’s mouth as it slams his jaws together with a terrible CLACK! Though still standing, you can see this is a creature on its last legs. Its limbs are shaking violently, severe burns coat its arms and chest, blood is running thick from its mouth... yet still it manages to twist its visage into a terrible grin as it looks toward Yshtar.

“Seen.... never.... unseen....”

Now that you are out in the hallway, you become fully conscious of the struggle at the top of the stairs. Down the hall from you, you see three more of these hooded figures. Two lie slumped against either wall, completely still. The third is currently flailing wildly in an attempt to flee in your direction; the sharpened tip of a steal cane impaled through its back and protruding out its chest. Behind it, you see a red-skinned tiefling in a duster and wide-brimmed trail hat standing at the top of the stairs. His little green-skinned companion rushes after the impaled cultist while the older man simply walks forward casually; checking the two bodies left beside the stairs as he goes.

The little green tiefling leaps onto the back of the man fleeing toward you and stabs him once with each of the little daggers she has gripped in her bandaged hands. One gets batted away in the man’s flailing, but the other finds its mark. From behind her, seeing that their target still isn’t down, the red tiefling calls out and raises a hand toward him. “Enough!”

From his outstretched hand, four beams of violet light go careening down the hall after the cultist, searing into him with an agonizing wave of energy that immediately drops the hooded figure to the floorboards. Unmoving.

Now only your cultist remains...

---

00:54, Today: GM, for the NPC Melody, rolled 3 Slashing Damage using 1d6+2.
00:54, Today: GM, for the NPC Melody, rolled 4 To Hit using 1d20+2.
00:54, Today: GM, for the NPC Melody, rolled 13 To Hit using 1d20+2.

00:54, Today: GM, for the NPC Verse, rolled 13 Force Damage using 1d10+5.
00:54, Today: GM, for the NPC Verse, rolled 13 Force Damage using 1d10+5.
00:54, Today: GM, for the NPC Verse, rolled 6 Force Damage using 1d10+5.
 00:54, Today: GM, for the NPC Verse, rolled 11 Force Damage using 1d10+5.
 00:53, Today: GM, for the NPC Verse, rolled 19 To Hit using 1d20+11.
 00:52, Today: GM, for the NPC Verse, rolled 15 To Hit using 1d20+11.
00:52, Today: GM, for the NPC Verse, rolled 19 To Hit using 1d20+11.
00:52, Today: GM, for the NPC Verse, rolled 24 To Hit using 1d20+11.
This message was last edited by the GM at 06:07, Fri 06 Nov 2020.

Yshtar -oblivious to the carnage in the hallway- attacked the man once more moving in to attack his exposed neck.

"Just die already!"

14:43, Today: Yshtar rolled 25 using 1d20+6.  greatsword atk.
14:46, Today: Yshtar rolled 9 using 3d6+4. --> greatsword dmg+sneak atk

In reply to Yshtar (msg # 116):

Like a hot knife slicing through butter, the blade connects with the cultist’s neck, carves fluidly through the flesh, and comes to a halt three quarters of the way through the man’s throat; having caught and shattered his spinal column in the process. All at once the shaking stops. The tremors running through him cease. His body goes limp.

But the blood-stained grin never fades from his face...

---

That ends combat, unless you plan on attacking the two newcomers, in which case we’ll use the same initiative. He had 3 HP left.

Yshtar put the tip of the greatsword down and leaned against it as she saw the newcomers attack. She looked more steady after a quiet moment of contemplation. Clenching fists she asked a quiet question from the priest of Oghma afterwards.

"Actual friends of yours?"

She looked into the tieflings' eyes to try to discern their intent.
This message was last edited by the player at 22:00, Fri 06 Nov 2020.

"The entire world is your friend when the alternative is what this one had to offer." Bartimaeus replied. "But yes. These are they whom I had hoped would be close by." He wiped the stained head of his staff on the cloak of the cultist and said quietly, "I am sorry. About what you saw. If ... if you want to talk about it later, I'll be here for you."

Addressing Verse and Mel, he said aloud, "I presume I've just had the pleasure of meeting representatives of this Court you mentioned? Glad you hadn't wandered far." Bartimaeus indicated the corpses littering the hallway. "This room has seen more than its share of uninvited guests," giving Verse a sidelong eye, "after a brief chat, perhaps you might be able to recommend accommodations that are less of a Tideswallow terminal? I believe I have already rendered a downpayment to that purpose," he finished, turning at the last to Mel.

In reply to Bartimaeus (msg # 119):

“Seems that way... though truth be told, we only stuck around here this closely because it seemed inevitable you’d attract their ilk eventually.” Looking back at the bodies and then inspecting the one of the cultist the two of you dealt with, the violet orbs of his eyes narrow and his attention turns to Yshtar. Then back to you. Then to your room. “Back inside. Both of you. Might still be one prowling...”

The smaller green tiefling is at his side by this point and hands him a rolled up sheet of parchment from one of the corpses back near the stairs.

"Certes," Bartimaeus replied, and stepped over the corpse into the room. "Won't you please come in?"

As he passed, he swept the crosier down and hooked the cultist's ankle, dragging him into the room.

"Now. Let us see what this fellow will tell us now that he is incapable of talking..." Not trusting the purpose of the growths around the man's skull, he covered the head with a blanket, and began to search the body.

---

OOC:

14:36, Today: Bartimaeus rolled 22 using 1d20+5.  Investigation, corpse.

After eyeing the tieflings for a moment she went into the room herself. She was not in position to argue with them - Bartimaeus' allies seemed quite powerful and had an impressive magical arsenal at their disposal. She crouched down near the dead man and the priest and looked him dead in the eyes ignoring his previous offer to talk about what she saw.

"Just who are your friends?"

The armor clad woman watched as the priest expertly investigated -or rather looted- the corpse and she didn't want to be left out of anything useful found. In all honesty her head was still hurting a bit from the strange vision she saw earlier.

In reply to Yshtar (msg # 122):
Closing the door behind you (I assume) the two of you are joined in the room by Verse and Melody. The pair are cautiously glancing around, trying to ensure nothing is amiss within the chamber before finally settling a bit.

Between the two of you, you uncover 6 gold and 270 silver from various pockets and pouches around the man’s robes. However, you also uncover a small sack of beautifully cut amethysts on his person; likely once meant to be components for some spell or another. You’d place their worth to be around 100 gold for the entire bag. A second, similarly shaped sack holds a trio of the small violet marbles he had crushed and blown the dust of onto Yshtar earlier.

Finally, the hook-tipped chains around his waist catch your attention. As you are searching his body, you can’t help but notice the occasional twitch of movement from them. A slight shift in the links here. A jerk of one hook or another a few inches toward your hands there. Subtle, and not particularly dangerous, but there’s clearly some sentience of some manner to them.

Bartimaeus was silent as he searched the body. The gold, gems, and orbs were placed on the table. The chains were of interest, but they could wait. He looked for brands, tattoos, or other symbols members of cults so often wore.

Finding none of that sort he sat back on his heels and looked at Melody and Verse. "Allow me to introduce you all. Verse, Mel, may I present to you Yshtar. She had contracted to act as my bodyguard, but has since suggested we restructure our relationship. Yshtar, Verse and Mel are recent acquaintances of mine. I believe they mistook me for one of these types," he lightly kicked the cultist, "when we first met. Water under the bridge.

"I suspect the proprietor would rather there not be corpses cooling in his hallway. I'll be just a moment, then."

He stood and walked to the door.

"As I was their primary target, I will be obliged to read that scroll you found on one of the others. We can also discuss Mel's interest in those gold pieces found in my cabinet yesterday."

He opened the door and walked out, then quickly poked his head back in.

"Where are my manners... Tea, anyone?"

Yshtar nodded at the introduction. Verse and Mel? Probably aliases. She silently signaled no when the priest of Oghma asked whether they wanted tea.

"So who are you people? What do you do here? And who...what is this guy? Why did he attack us?"


The questions were aimed at either of the tieflings; they might give less cryptic answers than Bartimaeus. Meanwhile she stood up and looked at the obviously magical chains.

In reply to Yshtar (msg # 125):

Upon surveying the room and hearing out the introductions, the red tiefling looks down at the green and gives her a quick nod. Melody, in turn, walks cautiously over toward the bed and sits down on its edge; clearly intending to sit out the discussion. Verse, meanwhile, turns his attention briefly toward Bartimaeus, calling out into the hall. He speaks with a deep, midlands drawl; an accent you’re quite familiar with from your time on the road. “The coins are safe. You can have em back soon enough. Just needed to be sure you weren’t in town to summon something with them.”

His attention then turns to you. “Alestor Verse. Pleasure. This here’s my daughter, Mel. We’re... we were just passing through town. Waiting on a ship east. But since it’s taking its damn sweet time gettin’ here, we’ve been stuck waitin’ in this little pit of an inn. As for him...” He gives the corpse a quick kick with the steel-lined toe of one boot. The skin unrelated slightly at the touch, giving off the unsettling semblance of a substance somewhere between a solid and a gel. “He’s something of a problem. An infestation, if ya ken. The ones out in the hall ain’t much better, but at least they seemed human. This one’s a bit further from the norm, by the look of things. Got a good look at something he shouldn’t have, most like, and it... well... it had an impact, i guess you could say.”

“Far as why he attacked you, I’m going out on a limb here, but I’m gonna assume he and his friends didn’t like the idea of outsiders snooping around their city. Probably worried you’ll find something that could be important to them. Or that you’ll bring attention to something they want to keep hidden.”

He similarly shakes his head when offered the tea. Mel, on the other hand, nods.
This message was last edited by the GM at 20:33, Wed 11 Nov 2020.

Bartimaeus drug the corpses in the room one by one, then went out a final time, returning with a kettle of hot water. He steeped two mugs, gave one to Mel, and kept the other for himself.

"'Summon something with them', you say? That is a curious concern to have over a coin. But only the gold coins, not the bronze. Same mint, I should think." He lingered a moment and moved on to other topics.

"If they had been following me previous to yesterday's events, they would have been interested in me for the same reason you were interested in me. Perhaps your attention kept them away... If yesterday's city tour roused them against me, then they are either interested in cosmology, have a gnomish friend in a junk shop, a petty conjuror in the market, or keep their own bulbous eyes on what's happening underneath the Roe.

"Of course, I shouldn't be so ego-bound as to demand they were after me." He looked at Yshtar. "If you're pursuing a task in this city, possibly these are here to thwart you."

He shrugged and looked back at the corpses. "These will be from the Court you'd mentioned, I gather? And this one," he indicated the warlock Yshtar had finished off, "further into whatever transformation they promise?"

Bartimaeus sipped his tea. "For the benefit of my partner here, would you mind explaining what this Court is with slightly more detail than you'd offered me? Oh... and may I see that scroll, please?"

Still eyeing "Verse" and "Mel" as Bartimaeus cleaned up the corpses outside Yshtar asked further questions.

"So you were passing through town, met the priest of Oghma for a beer and a tea then decided you are such great friends that you would protect him from harm? This is very kind of you.

The last sentence was only partly sarcastic as realistically the two of them stood little chance against one not to mention another couple of cultists. Bartimaeus' further words clarified some things though. What he did in the College.

Then as the man continued further details started to arise. The court. She only heard of a folk tale of the Undying Court but that was a fairy tale surely.

"Is this court the one of Rothfield?"

It was a long shot and probably not his court but instead another evil cult of sorts which had to be exterminated in the long term.

In reply to Yshtar (msg # 128):

You watch as the stony expression on the old tiefling’s face suddenly cracks as your words reach him. He lets out a short, but deep series of laughs. “Hell no! I thought he’d make good bait! And it seems like that hunch was about right... though the fish that bit’s still a bit too scrawny for my taste. But the bait’s still intact, so no sense in not to tossing it back in... besides... now there’s a worm on two hooks, it would seem.”

He looks at Yshtar, then to Bartimaeus, then back to Yshtar, shaking his head a bit dismissively. “You too with this Rothfield nonsense... No, far as I can tell, whatever it is your friend Bartimaeus there is chasing underneath the city, it’s got nothing to do with the Court of Eyes. They’re far more concerned with what’s above and beyond, not below and locked away...”  He seems to trail off a bit as he gets a good glance at Yshtar’s eyes. “...you know. You saw her, didn’t you.”

 It’s a statement, not a question.

In reply to Bartimaeus (msg # 127):

He sighs. “Alright... I suppose if one of you’s this far in already, might as well make sure you’re both on the same page at the very least.” He goes over and takes a seat next to Melody.

“The Court’s a... how do I put this... they’re a cult, plain and simple. A bunch of fanatics of a star-god from well beyond our realm. Or at least they think themselves to be. Truth of it is, they’re a perversion of a much older religion to that same deity. They seem to believe themselves to be her true servants and followers, while they simultaneously make a mockery of everything her tenets represent. The faith’s tactics have always been a little... gruesome, given the nature of what’s being worshipped. But never malicious. Not cruel for the sake of being cruel. The Court, meanwhile... they take it to an extreme that’d make the gods of the nine hells proud. Fervent bloodshed. Base, sadistic rituals. Corruption of the world around them...” He jabs the corpse of the eye-ladened cultist’s head with the tip of his cane. “...and of themselves in the process. Reason they keep to the shadows and all. Why they try not to stick out from the normal populace. Because the moment you notice them, they REALLY stand out...”

Bartimaeus let the jab about being bait pass unremarked. He’d expected it, frankly, and that was the reason he’d told them of the Horn before he’d used it to summon him.

But there was progress... “Pardon, but... they’re a mockery of the worship of which elder star god from Beyond? Precision on that point is relevant lest we waste our time.”

He turned to Yshtar. “Can you describe it? Or perhaps...” He held out his hand towards her forehead, seeking her consent to the stronger connection afforded through touch.

In reply to Bartimaeus (msg # 131):

Verse’s eyes narrowed at Bartimaeus’ question. “Names are dangerous things. Something I’m sure someone in your... profession is well aware of. Regardless, her’s ain’t spoken aloud by the sane. Not here at least. Beyond the veil maybe. In other lands. Forgotten realms. Mysterious dreams. Sunless rooms. The like... but not here. Here, all but the most lost call her by a sort of pseudonym. The Court and the actual religion, both. To them she’s known as Rask’Akhthalhat. The Violet Watcher.”

His interest piques a bit as the priest turns the conversation toward Yshtar’s vision. “Wouldn’t mind hearing that end of things either... what’d ya see, child? What’d this waste of flesh and eyes see fit to force upon ya before his flame flickered out?”

~~ Rask’Akhthalhat. The Violet Watcher. ~~

Those names meant little to him, but names had a tedious habit of changing.

---

OOC:
10:12, Today: Bartimaeus rolled 10 using 1d20+5.  Know: Religion.
This message was last edited by the player at 20:35, Fri 13 Nov 2020.