The Council of Mythos IV

[NeoSeraphi]

Nissa Heartshield (it was official now, as of a few hours ago) and her companion Parrn rest and recover their energy at what is left of The Hierophant, while they watch the shards of what was once the proudest city in Ash'tai crumble around them. Humans and their kind are kept inside until 9 AM on the dot, and ushered back in doors at 5 PM. Even some of the proud warriors who would have never stooped to this level of bullying are patrolling the streets for their undead king. Something very strange is going on here, and the pair intend to find out what it is.

After a somewhat decent night's rest by the fire place, the two of them wake to the sound of the doors being unlocked from the outside. It would seem that the curfew has ended for now, so they are free to wander outside for a bit.

[Gunhaven]

Parrn pondered for a second on using his holy symbol of Alocer as a weapon before settling on just having it close at hand. He stored the two silver blanches and stretched for a few minutes and prayed to Alocer to give him the strength necessary to return his companions to this world in the name of bringing justice to His enemies and to continue the Great Hunt. Prepared for their somewhat crazy mission, he approached the door and awaited Nissa to head out and raid the castle.

[Diachronos]

Nissa wakes up and readies herself and Tiana for the day. Hopefully they'd be able to get into the castle without too much trouble.

Once they're ready to go, she turns to Madame Volutia. "Thank you for your hospitality and for your, um... 'contribution' to our efforts. Hopefully we'll be able to deal with this problem and Jazi can start getting back to its old self."

[NeoSeraphi]

Madame Volutia bows politely.

When the group starts to head towards the castle, the guards at the front stop them. "Hold it right there, sin'taro," one of the guards exclaims, pointing his spear at Nissa's neck. "The castle is off limits to anyone who the King or the Mistress have not given direct permission to enter."

[Diachronos]

Nissa holds her hands up as the guard points his spear at her throat. "I see. How would we go about requesting an audience with either of them?"

[NeoSeraphi]

The guard looks ready to skewer her for even asking, but he is cut off by a female voice from behinff him. "Peace, Stori. She is my welcome guest."

A female human steps into view, covering her pale face with a hood, though not obscuring it. The woman smiles knowingly. "Though, of course you will have to surrender all that silver Blanche you're carrying before you enter."

That gets the guards' attention. If they were unwelcoming before they look half ready to murder the group now.

[Diachronos]

Nissa blinks and slowly withdraws the silver blanche that Volutia had given them. "No offense was meant. I've simply had bad experiences with hostile werewolves from this area before, and thought that being prepared for a fight with one of them was better than walking around with a weapon that would just annoy them."

[NeoSeraphi]

The woman chuckles mirthfully. "Oh come now, Nissa Revane, I know exactly why you're here. You came to kill me and free your master. Quite rude to plot an assassination against a woman without even learning her name."

[Diachronos]

Nissa frowns. "Isn't it also rude to raise a prince as a vampire and turn him against the subjects that he sought to protect?"

She takes a step back. "But you're right, we should at least get the formalities out of the way before letting this escalate any further. Who might you be?"

[NeoSeraphi]

The vampiress bows. "Well now, that's disappointing. I know I've changed my appearance since we last met, but I thought you'd at least remember my voice..."

There is a sound of bones rearranging as a pair of legs emerges from the woman's chest, and another from her back. Two more appear from somewhere else, and the vampiress in front of Nissa is gone, replaced by a pale, fanged drider with glinting eyes. "Perhaps you have forgotten me. In which case, let me remind you. I am Cassandra Hyperopia."

[Diachronos]

Nissa jumps back at the sight of Cassandra, and she frantically sweeps her magic-detection spell over the drider. This had to be some kind of trick; why would Cassandra be here? Hadn't Orion dealt with her? Or... had Orion taken control of her some how?

"I see you've made yourself comfortable while Max was masquerading as you back in Mys'tai. I take it you're already aware that Max has put Justin into a coma?"

[NeoSeraphi]

The drider nods solemnly. "Nissa, I'm sure if you remember anything about me at all, it's this: I know everything." She opens her mouth and shows off some very sharp fangs. "Unfortunately, not even the strongest mythic magic can stop a sire from exerting his power over a spawn."

[Gunhaven]

Parrn sighed and gave the Blanche when it was discussed, waiting for the hairless ones talk. With the shapeshifter's introduction done he said "Just want wolves back. Why such a chore?" He didn't even bother detecting the newcomer since obviously if she knew Nissa it could only go poorly, if the last few people to surprise the hairless one were any indication.

[Diachronos]

"Ah... that would explain it." She moves her hand away from her sword. "I don't suppose there's any way to... well, 'cure' vampirism, is there? Or to free you from Orion's control aside from just killing him?"

[NeoSeraphi]

Cassandra bows. "I am unable to answer that question. But you are welcome guests of this castle, as long as you obey the rules while you are here."

She turns and glances at Parrn with surprise. "I don't think we've met. But if you seek to resurrect fallen animals, the gentleman in the cell downstairs is one of the few in the world who can do so."

[Diachronos]

Nissa sighs. "I take it he's forbidden you from answering that, then. Oh well, things can't always work out perfectly." She looks at the two guards, then back to her. "What are the rules that we would need to follow, Grandmistress?"

[NeoSeraphi]

Cassandra smiles as she assumes her human disguise again. "I'm ever so pleased you know better than to put up a fight, Nissa. Thankfully, I am under no orders to harm you, but I must defend myself if I am attacked, and well...I'm a bit...deadly when I'm under obligation to fight without restraint."

"The rules are quite simple. You must remain in my presence at all times, you cannot see the King under any circumstances, and even the slightest hint of violence will be met with reprisal. And please do remember that I can read your minds, so 'the slightest hint of violence' does include mental planning."

[Diachronos]

She nods as the rules are explained. "Will we be allowed to see my mentor about the wolves?"

[NeoSeraphi]

Cassandra shakes her head. "You are free to visit the prison if you like, but the prisoner may not use magic of any kind."

[Diachronos]

Nissa sighs. "Well, Sarkhan might know another way to bring them back, so we could at least ask him."

[NeoSeraphi]

Cassandra blinks. "'Sarkhan'? Really? I would have gone with 'Ajani' myself...honestly you're so weird sometimes." She shows the group to the dungeon.

Sarkhan looks up as Nissa enters. "Heh. I knew you'd make it. Told 'em all as soon as I was fixin' to head off to the castle, I did. Said that as soon as they locked me up, that little girl would find her way here to see the old man one last time. How ya been, girl?"

[Diachronos]

Nissa lightly grasps one of the cell bars and manages a smile; it was nice to see him again after... how long had it been since they'd last seen each other? Seven years?

"Well enough, I suppose. Turns out my mother and my friend Sora are both still alive, so that was a nice surprise." She looks around at the prison before turning back to him. "I see you're still a troublemaker. What did they put you in here for, anyway?"

[NeoSeraphi]

The old man starts to respond before his eyes center on the ring on Nissa's finger. "Bloody hell! You got married? And I wasn't invited to the wedding? Bugbear's tits, Nissa, why the hell not?"

[Diachronos]

Nissa rubs the back of her neck. "Well, I've kinda been dead for the past three months or so, and I got resurrected maybe a week ago at most, so it kind of... slipped my mind. I'm really sorry, Sarkhan."

[NeoSeraphi]

Sarkhan scoffs. "Sure, run around chasing after dead boyfriends and ghost mommies and then when you're the one who kicks the bucket you can' even remember the man who made sure your scrawny little teenage ass dinnae starve to death out 'ere in the woods!"

He laughs heartily. "Aye, whate'ever. I's good to see ya again, lass. So, what 'ave ya come down 'ere for?"

[Diachronos]

"It's good to see you again too." She sighs and sits down next to the bars. "I'll be honest, the main reason I came to Jazi is because me and the gnoll were looking for someone who could resurrect his wolves. I didn't find out you were here until we'd already arrived."

[Gunhaven]

He had no thoughts of violence; in fact he was solely focused on getting his wolves back. At mention of his wolves Parrn pulled out the carefully gathered mementos from each wolf, separated to prevent any sort of cross contamination. He grinned at the hairless one and added "It okay anyway. Half of all hairless ones want this one dead. I even looked 'civilized' before fight happen. Of course fight happen..." His tone was joking but his eyes carried both the sadness that had settled over him at loosing his companions and annoyance at the overall rigamarole involved thus far.

[NeoSeraphi]

Sarkhan nods solemnly. "(Gnoll) I am sorry for your loss, my friend. I am certain that Alocer is taking good care of your family while they rest and wait for you to bring them back."

He turns to Nissa. "Resurrecting animal souls is a very delicate procedure, because animals do not just come when they are called, especially wild animals that have been reared by someone other than the caster. It's not something I can teach you, it's only something I can do."

[Diachronos]

"Is it something that he could learn?" She nods toward Parrn. "I've learned how to resurrect an animal, but not with as little of them that we have available."

Nissa hesitates for a moment before continuing. "What got you put in this cell, anyway? The guards in the city called you an assassin... were you really trying to kill King Michael?"

[NeoSeraphi]

Sarkhan laughs. "Ya cannae kill someone who's already dead, Nissa. You should know that by now. But 'assailant'? Yeah, I tried to take that vampire out."

Looking at the gnoll, Sarkhan shakes his head slowly. "(Gnoll) His connection to nature is stronger than most, but it takes a little more than a strong connection to deal with animal souls. You have to be accepted by the land 'erself. And your god does not count as the land, lad. I'm sorry."

[Diachronos]

Nissa sighs, but there's a tiny smile on her face when she speaks up again. "And I'm assuming you're just going to tell me to 'stop bein' dense' or however you used to put it if we start talking about breaking you out of here."

Leaning back against the wall, she looks up at the ceiling. "...Sarkhan, do you know anything about mythic divine magic?"

[NeoSeraphi]

Sarkhan raises an eyebrow. "Mythic divine magic? Lass, tha's dangerous territory ya be thinkin' bout gettin' into, but if ya were interested, I'm probably the best man to be teaching you. I've only ever met two people besides me who could use it, and one of them has passed on, bless her soul."

[Diachronos]

Nissa flinches slightly at the mention of one of the mythic divine casters passing on. "You mean Alicia Volutia?"

[NeoSeraphi]

Sarkhan shakes her head. "What? The Grandmistress is dead? Nah, she cannae use divine magic. The only people I know who can use mythic divine magic besides me are Justin Titanbane and Olivia, the Voice of the Woods. And Olivia met her Maker some months ago, I hear."

[Diachronos]

"Well, Justin's out of commission until we can get Grandmistress Hyperopia freed from Orion's control. Olivia... Apparently her envy corrupted her so much that a nalfeshnee dragged the whole forest into the Abyss when she died. So the only mythic divine caster left is you."

She thinks back over what Sora and Sakura had told her. "I've heard that the secret to it is strengthening someone's bond to nature. Grandmistress Ashmond said that she could help me with that, but after what's happened recently she's not going to be up to the task for at least a week. And with everything going on, I'm afraid we might not have that kind of time."

[Gunhaven]

Parrn grinned at the hairless one speaking his tongue and returned to it with some happiness in his voice. "Alocer granted us companionship. He can grant us divinity if He decides it will help us in our quest to weed out the impure and perform the Great Hunt." On the off chance it would work he gripped his symbol and called to Alocer to grant him aid in his Hunt.

[NeoSeraphi]

Sarkhan chuckles. "Sounds like you don't have a choice there, lass. It's the gallows for me in two days' time."

The holy symbol glows and Parrn feels a strong connection. This is a man that he can trust, someone he should help, and in return, could become a powerful ally to the Hunt.

[Diachronos]

"Well, that figures." She brushes her hair back and looks at the old man. "I wish the King was in control of himself, then we might be able to talk him into letting you go, or at least keeping you in prison instead of executing you. As it stands, all that's left would be to break you out, which might be worth considering if the Omniscient wasn't being forced to obey Orion."

[NeoSeraphi]

Cassandra smiles. "There is currently no order in place forbidding me from sharing the information that I shall be resting in my coffin today starting at noon and ending at sundown. Even an earthquake could not wake me from the rest once I have laid down and closed the lid."

[Diachronos]

Nissa blinks and stares at the drider for a moment before giving her a knowing grin. "Then we'd better make sure that kind of information isn't going to fall into the hands of someone who might take advantage of it."

[Gunhaven]

Parrn for his part seems more interested in getting the man out of jail than anything and paws through his kits for any possible way to get past the bars. As he looks he casually says "I wonder where the keys are..." His mind remains focused on getting the man who can bring his wolves back free so that he can get back to trying to protect Heartshield.

[NeoSeraphi]

The keys appear to be hanging on a hook on the ceiling, well out of Parrn's reach.

Cassandra turns to Nissa. "Well, is there anywhere else you'd like to visit in the palace today before you take your leave?" she asks politely.

[Diachronos]

Nissa puts a hand on Parrn's shoulder and shakes her head. "Breaking him out isn't a good idea, not when there's someone with deity-level power standing right here." She turns to Cassandra and thinks for a moment. "The only other thing I was thinking of was to speak with King Michael, but if he's not seeing visitors then there's little point in that... Oh, do you know if Princess Amora or Princess Maria have returned yet?"

[NeoSeraphi]

Cassandra shakes her head. "No. Their boat isn't scheduled to return for at least 3 more days. Jazi is quite far from Mys'tai already."

[Diachronos]

She nods upon hearing this. "I hope they have a safe journey." Nissa looks around again for a brief moment to see what they might be able to use when they return to break Sarkhan out, before grinning to the old man. "I'll try to be back as soon as possible, old friend. Try not to cause too much trouble until then, okay?"

Perception to look around the room from where she's currently standing: [roll0]

[NeoSeraphi]

Nissa notices a drain on the ground...it would seem that this room is directly accessible from the public sewer.

[Gunhaven]

Parrn was about to speak when Nissa promised to get the mentor out. Instead he turned to their hostess and said as sincerely and curiously as possible in gnoll, since if she could read minds it wouldn't matter what language he spoke, "Could you give us a tour of the castle for the next couple of hours and end in your bedchamber? I only saw a portion of the castle the last time I was here and wouldn't mind seeing why hairless ones use such big targets for their leaders."

[NeoSeraphi]

Cassandra nods, and for the next two hours she shows the group the layout of the castle, allowing them to complete their mental map of the place. After she is done, she retires to her room and some guards arrive to show Nissa and Parrn out.

[Diachronos]

Nissa thanks Cassandra after they reach the drider's room, and lets the guards escort her outside.

[Gunhaven]

Parrn looked between the guards, the drider's room, and Nissa before he settled on going with the guards. Hopefully they could convince the nice hairless one to aid them further once they broke him out. Once they were safely away from the guards he said in Gnoll "What's the plan now? I know you saw something when we were in there..." He carefully stored the momentos again and did a quick check of his equipment.

[Diachronos]

(Gnoll) "There's a sewer drain that even Ghellin will fit into. If we can find some kind of map of the sewers, we should be able to sneak in through there, break Sarkhan out, and sneak back out without having to fight through the whole castle." She looks up at the sky to get an idea of what time of day it is. "At the very least, once noon rolls around we'll have plenty of time to get to him without having to worry about Cassandra..."

[Gunhaven]

Parrn pondered for a moment as he slowly adjusted their course back to the inn, saying "We have at least one native. Might as well start there."

[Diachronos]

"Right, she might know a good way to get to the entrance." When they arrive back at the inn, she starts looking for Volutia to discuss the plan with her.

[NeoSeraphi]

Volutia is sitting at the night desk, speaking with a well-dressed woman with blue hair who looks like she's in quite a hurry.

[Diachronos]

Nissa blinks a few times and scans "Sirra" for any magical auras before approaching. "Well, the one in prison is who I thought it was."


Time to Spellcraft the hell out of Sirra: [roll0]

[NeoSeraphi]

As Nissa starts her spell, the blue-haired woman freezes up and then spins around, glaring at Nissa. "Um, excuse me! Do you just scan the magical auras of people you've never met before on a hunch? The magic that I cast on myself and those around me is my business, and I will not tolerate some little girl invading my privacy! Now I demand an apology from you, young lady!"

Concentration check needed here to keep your detect magic up.

[Gunhaven]

Parrn sighed and looked at the two ladies. With a voice full of weariness he pulled out his sword and spoke slowly to the blue haired lady (Common) "Miss, you keep me from loved ones." He glared at her with a look that conveyed hatred at the rambling nature of hairless ones and desire to wrap this up.
[roll0]

[NeoSeraphi]

Sirra turns to Parrn with wide eyes. "Are you brandishing a weapon at me?! The nerve of you! Guards! Guards! Arrest this cretin!" She opens the door to the inn and starts searching for a guard to help her.

[Diachronos]

Nissa shoots a disapproving look at Parrn. (Gnoll) "Put that away, we don't need the guards on our tails the whole way into the sewers."

She heads after Sirra. "Ma'am, I want to apologize for my and my companion's behavior. He is going through a rough time because he lost someone close to him, and I... Well, to be completely honest someone tried to murder me and my husband at our wedding yesterday, and they'd spent three days before that walking around using your face and name. I've dealt with enough people disguising themselves while trying to kill me that I'm a bit paranoid."

[NeoSeraphi]

Sirra calms down and turns to Nissa with an angry look. "Well, given the circumstances I can see how you might think I was suspicious but that still does not give you the right to take a peek at my magical auras, and even if you recently lost a friend it certainly doesn't give you the right to point a weapon at an unarmed stranger! This is not a warzone, it is a city, and I would thank you both to start acting like citizens, instead of...savages."


"Now Mother. Remember what the doctor told you about being an unrelenting passive aggressive hyper-bitch," a male voice chides from behind Sirra. The woman turns around, looking surprised. "Oh, there you are. Haha, now you lot are in trouble! My son will teach you some manners!"

Justin Titanbane steps into view, pushing his glasses up his nose. "I know she's insufferable, but I'd really appreciate it if you could forgive my - Nissa Heartshield?" He looks shocked to see her.

[Diachronos]

Nissa is equally shocked to see Justin standing there. "J-Justin? But... how are you here? The last I knew, you were in Mys'tai and unconscious!" Despite the shock and his mother having an attitude that made him seem completely agreeable, she can't help smiling to see him on his feet again. "Well, in any case, it's good to see you again."

[NeoSeraphi]

Sirra looks angry. "How dare you address my son with his first name? I'll have you know he's the Grandmaster of Transmu-"

"Silence" Justin states simply, tapping his mother on the shoulder. Sirra continues her rant, but Nissa's ears are spared the high-pitched anger. Justin pushes his glasses up his nose. "As for my condition, after reviewing the facts and the differences between when I was cursed and when I woke up, I can only surmise my consciousness was directly tied to Alicia Volutia's life. You killed her, and I woke up."

[Diachronos]

"I see... it makes about as much sense as anything else. I'm not sure why Max would choose that condition, though..." She rubs the back of her neck and sighs. "...I take it that if you're here, you already know what happened to the Omniscient?"

[NeoSeraphi]

Justin sighs and shakes his head. "Well, I did hear about that, but that's not why I'm here..."

"Young man, did you just silence your own mother!?" the voice reappears as Sirra stomps on Justin's foot with her heels. Sirra is approximately six inches shorter than her son, so watching her bully him is quite amusing. "Still, it's nice to see my boy talking to a girl for a change. So this is why you wanted to come to Jazi first, huh?"

Sirra looks over Nissa with a discerning eye. "Hmm...half-breed, no noticeable features, breasts that look too large on her small frame...well, I guess that's fine. Here," she reaches into her purse and pulls out a bottle. "Fertility pills. Always keep them handy. Now, Justin and I have talked and we've agreed that I get three grandchildren, okay? Not one, not two. Three. Er...Justin I know you like those woodland type girls but couldn't you have picked one with wider hips? She doesn't look like she can handle bearing even a single shapeshifting child..."

Sirra blinks in surprise as something occurs to her. "Wait...you said you saw my impostor at your wedding..." Sirra reaches up and yanks Justin down to her level by his ear, and then screams into it. "HOW COULD YOU NOT INVITE ME TO YOUR WEDDING?!"

[Diachronos]

Nissa stares at the woman as she begins analyzing her like some kind of livestock. And then start shouting at Justin after jumping to conclusions.

And I thought your demeanor was grating, Grandmaster... She lays a hand on Sirra's shoulder. "I married Arios Heartshield, not your son. I think you can forgive him for not inviting you to a wedding that hasn't happened yet."

[Gunhaven]

Parrn sighed and put away his sword. He rubbed his face and wearily said "Who knows sewers?" to the owner, assuming no one else was present.

[NeoSeraphi]

Sirra blinks. "Wait, you're Sora's wife?" She stares at Justin. "What happened to Sakura? She must have died. There is no way a man voluntarily goes from dating a smoking hot nymph to a lanky half-elf."

Justin sighs and rubs his temples. "Mother, don't you have an appointment to keep?" he reminds her hopefully. Sirra gasps and checks her watch, then runs off.

Justin sinks to the ground against the wall of a building, looking incredibly miserable.

----------------------------------------------

Volutia looks surprised at the question. "Well, there is an entrance to the sewers in my basement, but you don't want to go down there. There are dire rats down there."

[Diachronos]

Nissa sighs with relief as Sirra runs off. "...Justin, after what I just saw, I take back anything negative I've ever said about you." She sits down beside him. "What brings you to Jazi, anyway?"

[NeoSeraphi]

Justin looks up at the huntress with soulless eyes. "Well, after I was brought out of my coma, The Prestige needed to find another way to make sure I wouldn't interfere with his plans. So he...gave my mother my home address. Now we're on a tour of the world to make up for the last seven birthdays I missed..."

[Gunhaven]

Parrn peeked his head out and said to Nissa (Gnoll) "We can get in from here. There's a rat problem. Probably follows street if hairless planning makes sense." He looked at Justin and added (Common) "Friend? You come too?"

[Diachronos]

"...I think Max is now officially the most evil person in the world." She looks in the direction that Sirra had gone. "And I'm guessing she's not willing to believe that what we're dealing with is a bigger problem than missing a few birthdays."

She looks over at Parrn. "Rats? Really? They better be some pretty damn big rats if they're supposed to be a problem. Worst case, we get bit and need to pay for someone to cure us of filth fever."

[NeoSeraphi]

Justin blinks at Parrn. "I-Is that gnoll talking to me?" he asks, with a touch of disbelief and his usual snobbishness sneaking back into his voice.

"I told my mother that there was a plot to destroy the monarchies of the world and plunge the entire world into chaos. She told me that there were seven other members of the Council for that very reason, and 'one of them could handle it'. When I tried to explain that half of them had gone rogue, she replied 'Yes, half of them. Just like how I'm half of the reason you're alive to begin with, young man, and you tried to hide from me for seven years!' So yeah, I'm not getting out of this one," Justin mutters. "I will say that if The Prestige is still alive in six months when this is all over I'm going to find him and make him wish he had never been born."

[Gunhaven]

Parrn nodded and waved a paw at the two of them, saying (Common) "Come. Break from mom, kill rats, reunite. Hunt in Alocer name." He didn't bother waiting, instead heading back inside for the entrance to the sewer.

[Diachronos]

(Gnoll) "I'll be there in a minute."

She turns back to Justin. (Draconic) "I know this is going to sound stupid, and that you're probably going to have at least 20 more additions to that list you keep about me from this, but we're getting desperate; Sakura's going to be recovering for at least a week after someone made an entire brothel attack her, Cassandra's stuck being Orion's lap dog until we can either kill him or remove his control over her, Sora's mythic power is gone because he reformed the bond with his two swords, and you've got your mother to deal with. Sora's idea is that I need to learn to use mythic divine magic. My mentor said that you're the only other person still alive that he's aware of who can do it... I'm heading to free him right now, but I don't know if he'll be able to help once we get him out of prison."

[NeoSeraphi]

Justin raises an eyebrow. "You...you want to learn how to use mythic divine magic?" he asks, sounding genuinely impressed. "That's some initiative! I like it. Maybe I was wrong about you. There's definitely a quality about you that makes Arios act the way he does around you, and I think I'm starting to see it, finally. Listen, if you don't get your mentor to help you by the end of the week, then you can visit me at Sakura's house in Mullmoon and I'll teach you."

[Diachronos]

Nissa couldn't believe what she was hearing at first. Was Justin actually complimenting her about something? "With any luck our problems will be solved by then, but if I can't get any help from Sarkhan by then I'll see you in Mullmoon." She stands up and heads inside. "Tiana, it might be better if you stay here for now. The sewers aren't the best place to be, and I doubt you want to be walking around through mud and rotten waste all day."

[NeoSeraphi]

"Okay Mother."

The pair heads downstairs and are attacked by three monstrous rats the size of wolves!

[Diachronos]

"Oh... Yeah, that's a rat problem." She draws her sword and readies herself for combat.


[roll0]

[Gunhaven]

Parrn grinned and quickly brandished his teeth and sword, just waiting to get some fun in.
[roll0]

[NeoSeraphi]

The rats charge at Nissa and attack her!

Attack: [roll0]
Damage: [roll1]
[roll2]
Damage: [roll3]
Attack: [roll4]
Damage: [roll5]

[Diachronos]

Nissa evades the rats' attacks and retaliates.

Attack/crit 1: [roll0]/[roll1]
Damage/crit 1: [roll2]/[roll3]

Attack/crit 2: [roll4]/[roll5]
Damage/crit 2: [roll6]/[roll7]

[Gunhaven]

Parrn moved to flank with Nissa in any position and lashed out with feet, sword, and teeth in an attempt to cut down that which remained.
Solo Tactics means I treat Nissa as having all teamwork feats even though she doesn't.

Flurry of Maneuvers Trip: [roll0] + 19

Full Attack Sword: [roll1]
Sword Damage: [roll2] + [roll3]

Iterative Attack Sword: [roll4]
Sword Damage: [roll5] + [roll6]

Secondary Bite Attack: [roll7]
Bite Damage: [roll8] + [roll9]
Trip Attempt: [roll10] + 19

Greater Trip AOO
Sword: [roll11]
Sword Damage: [roll12] + [roll13]

Vital Stomp AOO
Stomp: [roll14]
Damage: [roll15]

Extra AOO
Sword: [roll16]
Sword Damage: [roll17] + [roll18]

[NeoSeraphi]

The giant rats are defeated easily! The group has stopped the horrible dire rat menace that has plagued Jazi since everyone was level 1. The entrance to the sewer lies beneath their dead bodies.

[Gunhaven]

Parrn pushed them aside and dropped inside. He took a moment to reorient himself so that he'd be walking along the street and makes sure the theory that the sewers follow the street was a sound one. Satisfied he waits for Nissa before they moved toward hopefully the castle.

[Diachronos]

Nissa keeps her sword out in case they run into any more trouble and heads further into the sewers with Parrn and Ghellin, making sure to use the maps to orient themselves in the right direction.

[NeoSeraphi]

Parrn, Nissa, and Ghellin arrive at the exit to the dungeon. The manhole is locked on tight.

[Diachronos]

Nissa frowns when they find that the manhole is locked. She turns to Parrn, keeping her voice down in case anybody is near the drain. (Gnoll) "You wouldn't happen to have something to open this with, would you?"

[Gunhaven]

Parrn pulls out his breaker kit. From it he rummages before settling on... His crowbar, fixing to just remove the grate.

[NeoSeraphi]

Parrn removes the grate with some noise, which attracts the attention of guards in the prison. They hover over the entrance to the sewer and glare down at the two, tossing some alchemist fire directly into Parrn's face.

Ranged touch vs your flat-footed, so basically 10 AC: [roll0]
Damage: [roll1] fire damage.

Nissa needs to make a DC 15 Reflex save or take [roll2] fire damage.

Both need to make a DC 15 Reflex save or catch fire.

[Diachronos]

Nissa dodges the splashing alchemist's fire and draws her bow, firing at the one who'd thrown the vials at them.


Attack/crit 1: [roll0]/[roll1]
Damage: [roll2]/[roll3]

Attack/crit 2: [roll4]/[roll5]
Damage: [roll6]/[roll7]

[Gunhaven]

Parrn laughed as the fire washed over his body, singling some ends but failing to grip him. He said "Harder to juggle!" and pulled out the Lightning staff so he could zap one of the guards.
[roll0] Do I burn!? Hell no!

[NeoSeraphi]

Between the two's barrage of attacks, they manage to knock the three guards unconscious.

[Diachronos]

Nissa climbs up through the grate and takes a moment to ensure that the guards aren't going to bleed out before moving over to Sarkhan's cell. (Sylvan) "Told you that I'd be back, didn't I?" She looks around for a key or other way to open the cell. "With any luck we'll be able to get you out of the city without drawing too much attention to ourselves..."

[Gunhaven]

Parrn followed after and then offered Nissa a boost at where the keys were. He didn't care about the status of the guards, his mind set on getting his wolves back.

[NeoSeraphi]

Sarkhan looks surprised. "If you say so, lass. I still think you're bloody mad for coming here but if tha's what ya want to do with your life, be a criminal and aid and abet, then I ain't gonna stop ya."

Nissa finds the keys hanging from the ceiling and unlocks the cell. Sarkhan stands up slowly.

[Diachronos]

"I owe you my life after everything you've done for me, I'm not about to leave you here to get executed by a prince who's under the control of a vampire." As Sarkhan gets up, she scans the cell and the surrounding room for any sign of magical effects they'd need to worry about. "Turns out Justin Titanbane is awake now, but he's being dragged around by his mother."


Detect Magic and Spellcraft: [roll0]

[NeoSeraphi]

Nissa spots no auras around the room itself, though she does notice that Sarkhan is under the effect of a disguise other spell.

[Diachronos]

Upon seeing the spell on "Sarkhan", Nissa narrows her eyes and draws her sword, before kicking the cell door shut again in front of the man. "Tell me who you really are."

[Gunhaven]

Parrn sighs and scans the area for any sort of alignments, just because he can, as he grumbles about the inconsistency of hairless ones and their damn trickery.

[NeoSeraphi]

The alignment of the person in front of you is good.

The man blinks slowly. "I - I'm your master! Sarkhan Vol, a hunter who raised you from just a wee lass into a full red-blooded huntress! I was with you when you found Ghellin, lass! Don't you remember?"

If I'm wrong about that then he recants another important moment in Nissa's life that he was present for. Regardless, the memory is a correct one, so don't think if he wasn't there for Ghellin that he's lying, it's just me the DM misremembering.

[Diachronos]

Nissa lowers her sword slightly, though she doesn't sheathe it just yet. "Alright, if that's the case... then let's do something about that disguise spell on you."


Casting dispel magic, targeting the disguise other spell. Caster level check: [roll0]

[NeoSeraphi]

Nissa attempts to dispel the effect, but it remains in place.

[Gunhaven]

Parrn attempts to discern if this man was the Damned Top Hat yet again trying to ruin his happiness.
[roll0]

[NeoSeraphi]

As far as Parrn can tell, this man is telling the truth.

[Gunhaven]

Parrn with some hesitation says (Gnoll) "I think it's really him. If it was Top Hat, Dream Lady, Coward, or any of the dozen other people that want you dead I don't think a cage would matter. Plus I detect him as being good overall. Let's just go see about maybe bringing back my family and taking care of this castle trouble."

[Diachronos]

Nissa opens the cell again and steps back to allow "Sarkhan" out. "Come on, we'd better get going before anybody else comes down here." She sends Ghellin back down first, then waves Sarkhan through before turning to Parrn. "Let's get the drain back in place before we go."

[NeoSeraphi]

There's a piece of paper stuck to the back of Sarkhan's clothes.

Sarkhan nods and walks past Nissa, slowly climbing down the ladder into the sewer.

[Diachronos]

Nissa spots the paper hanging from Sarkhan's back and plucks it off. Recalling the scroll that Parrn had found, she checks it for magic first.

Detect Magic and Spellcraft: [roll0]

[NeoSeraphi]

The paper does not detect as magical.

[Diachronos]

When it's apparent that there is no magic on the paper, Nissa reads its contents.

[NeoSeraphi]

"Dear Nissa,
How are you? I'm fine. If you're reading this, it means you killed your own master just because I attached an aura to him that made you think he was magically disguised! Such a monster you are, killing innocents like this out of paranoia! Oh well, he was just the most important man to you in your life and a surrogate father figure, but hey, couldn't be too sure right? Good luck trying to learn mythic magic now, bitch!

Love, Maximillion Galactica

PS: I like my catalysts like I like my runes: Explosive."

------------------------

Meanwhile...somewhere else....

Max looks up in surprise. "Oh! Ooh! She's reading it, she's reading it! Okay hold on." He takes a breath and waits until she starts reading the post script. "I like my champions like I like my runes..." Max slides a pair of sunglasses over his eyes. "Explosive." He waves his hand and an illusionary voice yells, "YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

-------------------------

The note explodes and Nissa takes 36 force damage.

[Diachronos]

Nissa growls and dusts herself off, but she can't help smiling. "Joke's on you, Max... he's still alive."

She climbs down the ladder after the others. When she sees Sarkhan, she smiles at him. "Sorry about accusing you like that, recent events have made me a bit paranoid. How well do you think vishkanya skin would work for making boots?" She also takes the opportunity to heal her injuries.

Cure moderate wounds: [roll0]
Cure moderate wounds: [roll1]

[NeoSeraphi]

Sarkhan quickly puts his hands up. "I'm sorry, lass! I swear, I dinnae know that note was there!"

The disguise other spell was attached to the paper, not to Sarkhan. Now that it's gone he has no magic radiating from him.

[Diachronos]

"What? No, I'm talking about the illusionist who put the disguise aura on you." She lowers her sword to show him she's not planning to get violent.

[NeoSeraphi]

Sarkhan frowns. "Aye, well, I dinnae about you, lass, but I'm right sick of these mages walking around like they own the place! Let's show em why they should fear nature!"

He slams his hands together and presses them flat against the ground. "Mythic earthquake!"

The entire palace begins to shake and rumble. "Time to go!" Sarkhan scurries into the sewer.

[Diachronos]

What was that Cassandra said about an earthquake not waking her up? She darts after him, making sure that Ghellin and Parrn are keeping up. "Are you sure that was the best idea? I mean, I'm sick of the rogue Council members too, but bringing down the castle seems like a bit much... Not to mention that there might be innocent people inside."

[Gunhaven]

Parrn hopped back into the sewers as the castle started to crumble down around them, saying "Dibs on his head. I'm turning him into my own hat." He let out a hyena's mocking laughter as he started walking toward the edge of town, or at least as far as he could get.

[NeoSeraphi]

Sarkhan smiles. "Don't worry Nissa. This castle's too big for it to do any real damage, least not until after a few minutes. That's plenty of time for the innocents to make it out without getting hurt. The only ones who won't get out...are the ones who can't go into the sunlight even for a moment." He gives her a mischevious grin.

[Diachronos]

"I doubt the collapse will be enough to kill them, but it'll at least keep them in place for a while." She considers their options from here; Sarkhan's face was likely known by all the guards, so he couldn't exactly walk right out into the open. They could teleport out, but it would take two trips to get everyone and would leave them unable to go anywhere else without walking.

She stops at one of the maps and traces their path, looking for a tunnel that would lead out of the city or at least close to the edge. "I need to get my daughter before we leave, I don't want her to be stuck in Jazi when they start hunting us."

[NeoSeraphi]

Parrn is able to easily make it to the edge of town, which is deserted. By taking the same path, Nissa could also reach the edge of town, but Tiana is in The Hierophant still.

[Diachronos]

Nissa frowns when she looks at the map. "Sarkhan, you go on ahead, I need to get Tiana from the Hierophant. Do you know a spot where we can meet up?"

[Gunhaven]

Parrn continues on to edge of town and waits as patiently as possible for everyone to get grouped together and he can get reunited with his own family.

[NeoSeraphi]

Sarkhan goes ahead and waits with Parrn.

[Diachronos]

Nissa returns to the Hierophant and sheathes her sword before coming up to find Tiana. When she locates the tiefling, she motions for her to follow. "There's been a change of plans, Sarkhan decided to bring the castle down while we were escaping. He and Parrn are waiting at the edge of town for us."

[NeoSeraphi]

Tiana raises an eyebrow, but she quickly nods and follows Nissa to the edge of the city, where they meet up with the others.

[Diachronos]

Nissa keeps Tiana close as they head through the sewers. When they arrive, she gestures to Sarkhan. "Tiana, this is my teacher, Sarkhan Vol. Sarkhan, this is my daughter Tiana."

[Gunhaven]

Parrn ushered them forward before they could ramble too much, keeping an eye out for potential guards between them and freedom. He maintained an air of simply wanting to get to the woods outside as he adjusted his course as needed to find the path of least resistance.

[Diachronos]

"Oh... right, we should probably save introductions for later. Right now, we need to get away from the city."

[NeoSeraphi]

After traveling for about an hour, Sarkhan nods that they can probably stop. He extends his hand to Parrn. "(Gnoll) Let me see what you have. I will call your friends back for you now."

[Diachronos]

Nissa stops and kneels beside Tiana as Parrn gets out the bits of wolf he carried. "I'm sorry to drag you along with me like this. It might've been better if I'd just left you with your father, at least then you wouldn't have to just sit around by yourself and waiting for me to come back for you."

[Gunhaven]

Parrn gladly hands over the two sacks filled with the memories of both wolves.

[NeoSeraphi]

Tiana shakes her head. "You were gone for three months. I was alone, I didn't have anyone by my side for three months. I'm coming with you from now on, Mother."

Sarkhan speaks some words of power and concentrates. The ritual takes an hour, but both Asena and Courtard arise from the remnants, fully equipped and happy to see him.

[Gunhaven]

Parrn buries his head in between his wolf's respective flanks and stays there for a good ten minutes before finally pulling his head away, tears of joy at the reuniting with his family. He flourishes to Sarkhon and says (Gnoll) "You have my eternal thanks, hairless druid. Is there a way to protect them from such things in the future?"

[Diachronos]

Nissa hugs her daughter and watches as Sarkhan performs the ritual to revive the two wolves.

"I knew you'd be able to bring them back, Sarkhan." She stands up and goes over to him, hesitating a moment before speaking again. "You said earlier that learning mythic divine magic was a dangerous path... why?"

[NeoSeraphi]

Sarkhan nods. "Mythic divine magic is not something you can easily master, child, and while you use it it opens your body completely to the earth. If you are unprepared and undisciplined, it can result in horrible side effects. Your arms transforming into vines, your eyes replaced by berries, your tongue into a snail...I've seen and experienced worse."

Looking over at Parrn, Sarkhan shrugs. "(Gnoll) You don't know what killed them. So I can't make any recommendation."

[Diachronos]

"At this point, the rogue Council members are a far bigger concern for me than any of that. They're the ones who gave Taurus and the Black Sun the means to control Grandmistress Ashmond, and they've already gone out of their way to tear the Council apart and hurt my family." She clenches her fists. "They need to be stopped, and only someone with mythic power has a chance of doing that. With the rest of the Council being out of commission for one reason or another, that doesn't leave us with many options."

[Gunhaven]

Parrn thought how best to describe it before saying "Their life was drained from them the second we hit that coward necromancer. Courtaud here has more vitality than me and it dropped him like we dropped that manticore. Asena didn't fare any better despite having a stronger connection to our Lord and home."

[NeoSeraphi]

Sarkhan nods solemnly. "Alright lass, if tha's your wish. We'll need to spend 24 hours in pure meditation, with Ghellin. So you'll need to find someone to look after your wee girl."

At Parrn's words, Sarkhan looks thoughtful. "That sounds like a death effect of some kind. There are certain items and spells that ward against that kind of thing, but only a powerful cleric could craft something like that, and we're in short supply on those."

[Diachronos]

Nissa frowns as she tries to think of someone that Tiana could stay with. "That might be a problem... all of my friends and family are in To'ko right now, and I can't think of anyone else that I'd trust to watch her."

With a sigh she turns to Parrn. (Gnoll) "I hate to ask, but would you be able to look after my daughter for a while? I need to take care of something, and won't be able to do anything for her until it's over with."

[Gunhaven]

With a hyena's laughter Parrn nodded at the request and turned to Tiana and said (Common) "Come, we stretch and play in forest. Find good prey, perform hunt. Sound good, yes? Then we rest and wait for matron." He gave his wolves another hug and began to look for a pair of proper prey for the four of them.

[NeoSeraphi]

Tiana grins. "Yay! I get to hunt like Mother! Oh...but I don't have a weapon." She turns to Nissa and smiles hopefully. "Mother can I...can I borrow your bow? Pretty please, I'll take super good care of it, I promise!"

[Diachronos]

Nissa hands the bow and her arrows off to Tiana. "Just be careful, Tiana. You know how to use this, right?"

[NeoSeraphi]

Tiana nods eagerly. "Yep! Just you watch, Mother, I'm going to bag a buck!" She beams excitedly and heads off with Parrn.

Parrn tracks a herd of deer in the forest and begins to follow them slowly. He spies one injured creature who seems to be straggling behind the rest of the pack.

[Gunhaven]

Parrn licked his lips and barked quietly to Asena to only let him have one deer. He quickly scanned the herd just in case one of them was magical or aligned or something out of the ordinary just in case it was yet another trap. Then he turned to Tiana and motioned a paw at the wounded deer, saying (Common) "You shoot deer. We pounce another. See how hunt go." With his instruction conveyed he snuck around in the brush and prepared to pounce on the rest of the herd in a flash of teeth and steel as soon as Tiana let an arrow fly.
Did you want me to do the attack routine for us three? I was going to Charge -> Coordinated Charge x2, Snapping Flank and Full Attack, etc etc etc for 7 attacks against the deer, then the slew of AOOs that come with that madness. The goal is to kill the biggest buck and preferably a second one while Tiana peppers the wounded deer with arrows.

[NeoSeraphi]

Tiana, Asena, Courtard and Parrn easily work together to bring down two deer and reel them in. They look quite fat and it is apparent that there will be much feasting tonight in the group.

[Diachronos]

Nissa watches as Tiana heads off with Parrn and his wolves. When they're out of sight, she turns back to Sarkhan. "So... what's the first step to this?"

[NeoSeraphi]

Sarkhan sits down. "You must remove anything from your possessions that is metal, and place them outside the clearing. Over there in that wooded area should suffice. Then we sit down together with Ghellin and commune with nature. Asking ourselves questions such as what is life, what is meaning, what is beauty?"

[Diachronos]

Nissa frowns, but places her weapons and other metal objects just outside the edge of the clearing as instructed. Knowing my luck, either my stuff's going to get stolen again or we're going to get attacked...

Once everything is put away, she returns to the clearing and sits down across from Sarkhan, taking a deep breath and closing her eyes.

[NeoSeraphi]

Under Sarkhan's instruction, Nissa puts her hand on Ghellin's nose and activates her bat animal focus. Eyes closed, her hearing becomes incredibly sharp. The flood of information around her is overwhelming but she works to process it. There is dew slowly dripping off a blade of grass as a pair of fox cubs play together beneath a tree being drilled by a woodpecker.

[Diachronos]

Nissa slowly turns her attention away from the fox cubs and the tree, spreading out around it to take in the rest of their surroundings. Is this the sort of thing that Sarkhan went through when he obtained mythic power?

[Gunhaven]

Parrn took a breath in and calmed himself as he got out two daggers. He barked another strange direction to Asena to keep him from devouring the deers before he handed a dagger to Tiana. To the little girl he said "Now we dress." He shows her on his own deer how to remove the guts and clean the carcass. While he worked he focused on the task and how he was taught, how Alocer smiled upon them in their hunt, and how this hairless one would be fine in the woods. Once done he carefully laid out their guts a safe distance from their little camp.

[NeoSeraphi]

.... Meanwhile, somewhere else....

Madame Volutia glances up at the sound of the door swinging open. "Welcome to The Hierophant, what can I - oh. It's you."

There is a moment of silence, before Volutia closes her eyes. "Alicia, honey, Mommy's coming to see you."

-------------------------------

Father Yassir sighs in relief when the sound of footsteps grace the remains of his temple. "Oh finally! I thought that I might have given you the wrong directions. So, do you have an estimate on the cost to fix this place?"

His look of relief is replaced by sorrow as he recognizes his visitor. The old vampire turns to run as a wooden stake slams into his back and bursts through his chest, piercing his heart.

-----------------------

Lord Highmarch returns from his trip to find his priestess bled to death, a sword still pierced through her all-seeing eye.

------------------------

Queen Sasha finds Rhys and Holo holding hands....though their fingertips are the only parts of them not drenched in blood.

[NeoSeraphi]

Nissa extends her hearing out further, and she can hear the rustle of leaves in the trees, the movement of the air, the babbling of the brook. Nature is all around her, it is flowing and constant, both static and dynamic at the same time. All of the creatures in the world moving in different directions at different intervals at different times, and yet it all comes together like cogs in a metalwork...so peaceful and so loud.

-----------------------------------------------------

As Parrn begins to dress the creatures, he feels the urge again, the urge to rip and tear and devour them rising up. But as he advances towards them, Asena steps in front of him. "(Gnoll) Stop. Parrn, you are meant for better than this. I will now release you from this curse, because unfortunately I cannot sit idly by while this atrocity occurs. The faithful everywhere are being targeted, and those that are left must be ready to fight back. You are my chosen, and you will serve my will. Now rise, Parrn, my Guardian!"

Parrn's curse is broken, he no longer has any need to constantly eat things, and as Alocer's power fills his body he gains a Mythic Tier 1 and becomes a Guardian.

[Diachronos]

Nissa feels herself relaxing as the sounds fill her ears. It was like music to her, especially after how long it had been since she'd been able to sit back and appreciate it. This must be the feeling that other people have when they're truly at home... To have everything in its place and at peace. Her hand gently rubs Ghellin's nose, taking in the smooth, scaly texture of his hide.

[Gunhaven]

Parrn beamed proudly at the power his Lord had provided him. To Asena, and by association Alocer, he said (Gnoll) "Through You I hunt, and through You I shall find this new prey. With my senses blessed by You I will track them, with my paws silenced by Your majesty I will stalk them, and through us chosen by You we will tear down those that threaten Your faith." He briefly took a breath in and felt his reflexes perk up at the granted power and that mythic power he now possessed bleed slowly but surely over to his companions.

[Diachronos]

Nissa's breathing slows to a steady rate as she continues to spread her awareness and take in the raw, primal beauty of the world around her. Everything else started to drift off from her mind: the Council, the Black Sun, her family issues, her past... it all slowly faded away, to be replaced with the sounds and smells of nature.

[NeoSeraphi]

After 24 hours Nissa awakens from her trance, starving but feeling a renewed appreciation for nature. She has gained her first mythic tier as a hierophant!

As part of this, Nissa also gains the ability to Wild Shape twice per day. The forms available to her and the duration use her hunter level - 3 as her druid level. Nissa can take hierophant paths that affect Wild Shape.

[Diachronos]

Nissa breathes in deeply as she awakens; the first thing she notices is the gnawing hunger in her gut, but soon after she feels the connection to nature deep inside her in a way she'd never thought possible.

With an appreciative smile to Sarkhan, she gets up and heads to collect her belongings, getting a few strips of jerky out for herself and Ghellin before turning to look for Tiana and Parrn.

Holy crap, I actually get to choose Hierophany abilities that Nissa can use now!

[NeoSeraphi]

As Nissa starts to move, she hears a voice from behind her. "Well well. You seem to be progressing in strides."

Spinning around, Nissa is faced with the mysterious hooded figure who killed Elaina. The figure extends a gloved hand. "Playtime is over though. I'll be taking the Heart of Envy out of your hands for now, little girl."

[Diachronos]

Nissa turns to face the figure. "And what do you intend to do with it?"

[NeoSeraphi]

The figure doesn't answer, but raises its gloved fingers to rest in a snapping position. "If you intend to defy me, we could always do this the hard way. Your pretty little daughter could learn what it means to be an unarmed helpless woman in this world much sooner than you'd like for her to. Are you going to make me do that to her?"

[Diachronos]

Nissa grits her teeth, but turns away from the figure. "Fine, just let me get the damn thing out of my bag." She heads to retrieve the gem, taking a moment to recollect the rest of her belongings as well, before coming back and pulling the jewel from her bags. "Do you ever intend to just leave me and my family be? Or are you going to keep tormenting us for the rest of our lives?"

[Gunhaven]

Parrn for his part ran through his detection procedures and judged if it was possible for the group to kill the man. He casually pet his wolves and prepared to possibly pounce and test out the true power of Alocer against the newest prey.

[NeoSeraphi]

The individual chuckles and then takes the jewel, before stopping. "Perhaps...it is time you and I spoke on some level other than demands and threats." The figure stops and turns to Nissa. "I am considering telling you the truth right now. But if you learn this truth, you will think me a charlatan or mad, or possibly both. Are you ready to hear it?"

[Diachronos]

"After everything I've been put through for the last three months, I'd love to know what in the Nine Hells is going on. If I'm going to have to grow to the same level of power as my husband, I at least want to know why it's necessary."

[NeoSeraphi]

The figure chuckles. "You asked for it." A gloved hand slowly reaches up to draw the figure's hood back...and reveals the face of Nissa Heartshield, but significantly older, with several scars near her eyes, snow white hair, and wrinkles. "I am Nissa Revane, from a time two hundred years in the future. I have come back to the past with one goal: to stop the threat of the Black Sun...and save Arios's life."

[Gunhaven]

Parrn stared for a few seconds before letting out a hyena's mocking laughter. He said jovially (Common) "Hairless ones really do look the same!" before his face grew grim and he said firmly (Gnoll) "Are you lying?"
Will use wolves to confirm they smell the same, Sense Motive, and even a round of Discern Lies to be sure. [roll0]

[NeoSeraphi]

Future Nissa turns to Parrn and frowns. "(Gnoll) He seems quite friendly. Have you two really gotten along so well in the maybe five days since I introduced you to each other? I wouldn't know. I never met this gnoll in my timeline, Alocer told me to connect him to you and that would help solve some of the problems, which is why I took Arios's heart and led you to the cave where Max tossed him."

She seems to be telling the truth. She's also extremely tired, depressed, agitated and it's clearly been a while since she got laid.

[Diachronos]

Nissa can't believe what she's seeing. This was herself, only considerably older and... well, bitchy. I hope this is just some crazy hallucination, because I really don't want to end up like that...

"I take it you're here to change your past, then? I can't think of any other reason why you'd still be using our father's name and calling Sora by the name he took when he left Mys'tai. Why all the cloak-and-dagger routine, anyway? Wouldn't it have been simpler to just tell me what you're trying to do instead of sending me all over creation on a wild goose chase and bonding this stupid thing to me?" She gestures to the Heart still embedded in her palm.

[Gunhaven]

With a shrug Parrn said disinterested (Gnoll) "Easy to get along when Top Hat, Coward, and Dream Bitch are common enemies. Hince why it's hard for us to believe you're you. But it seems my companions trust you're the same so it's true enough for me. Did Alocer send you back here?" At mention of his companions, Courtaud seems especially interested in easing some stress from Future Nissa by gently pressing his nose against her hand.

[NeoSeraphi]

Future Nissa's eyes widen. "Sora...Sora Lightcard...Heh. I haven't heard that name spoken in so long." She shakes her head. "Sora is gone, in my timeline. Arios is my greatest enemy, someone I have tried to kill again and again, but I was unable to. After Tiana and my mother were both killed, and Ghellin passed of old age, I didn't have anyone left in the world. I searched for Sarkhan for a time, but I couldn't find him. Instead...I found her."

Future Nissa sighs and touches the back of her robes. She peels the black robe off to reveal a very worn and ripped guerilla combat uniform, backless, and on her back is the scar left by their father's ritual, only it's glowing black. "I got an opportunity to come back and change the past. That opportunity was offered to me...by Lamashtu. I had to accept. There was no alternative. And...to be honest, getting to see Tiana's face again has been worth everything I've given up."

Looking up at Nissa, Future Nissa narrows her eyes. "I thought that perhaps this timeline had been changing in response to my presence, and I was right. It's upsetting, but that is the result of Max being in control of The Omniscient. He may not know who I am, but he does know I don't belong in this world. And more importantly, he knows about these."

Future Nissa reaches into her bag and reveals six gems. "You see, these are the Hearts from my timeline. Max is in possession of all the Hearts from the present, but I have these from the future, and they work exactly the same on the Council members here in the present. That's why I knew to help you kill Alicia. In my timeline, Justin is still in a coma, and I barely escaped Alicia on my wedding day. Her poisonous whip hurt me so much that I had to stagger back, and I managed to stone shape a wall out of my way and run, but because I couldn't stop her, the Fate that had been predicted for me came true. The Curse of Death fell upon my wedding as Alicia and Elaina's hypnotized guards killed everyone, including Taalia, Lars, and Sasha."

[Diachronos]

Nissa looks down at the gem embedded in her hand. "And I take it this is the Heart of Wrath from your time, if Max already has all of them from the present day." She closes her hand and looks at her future self. "What's the point of giving this to me, though? Does me being a catalyst really change that much?"

A sudden thought occurred to her, one that she hated herself for not realizing before: If Tiana wasn't with Parrn, where was she?

[NeoSeraphi]

Tiana is in a clearing still cleaning the animals, she's within Nissa's sight and Nissa can verify by sight that the young tiefling is unharmed and happily whistling to herself.

Future Nissa nods. "It will drain Arios's life force, so that I can kill him in this timeline with no problems. That way, he will not live long enough to become The Lord of the Nine Hells."

[Diachronos]

Nissa's hand moves to grip her sword. "Why resort to killing him? There has to be another way besides that." She holds up the hand bearing the engagement ring. "My wedding is proof enough of that. With your help I defeated Alicia, and because of that and Parrn's help, Alicia and one soldier were the only people who died at that event. Our mother is still alive, Lars is still alive, Queen Sasha is still alive... if you're able to change that, why can't you prevent the man you love from turning into a monster without having to kill him?"

[NeoSeraphi]

Future Nissa scoffs. "'Love'? I don't love Arios. He's a monster. He is a devil in every sense of the word. When I found out what he was keeping in his attic...I never forgave him. And I don't care one bit about a stupid wedding. All I know is he's significantly weaker in the past...this was as far back as I could come, otherwise I would have killed him at birth, but here if I let the catalyst stay near him long enough he'll be only about half as strong as he normally is, which is like an antelope compared to me now."

[Diachronos]

"And just what is he keeping in there? What could possibly make you hate the man who was your closest friend growing up?"

[NeoSeraphi]

Future Nissa reaches into her bag and pulls out a heart. The heart is beating, continuously. "This is Sakura Ashmond's heart. Arios stole it from her and then convinced her that her mother had cursed her to prevent her from feeling any emotions. Hearing Sakura describe what it was like to live without feeling made me sick, but to think that Arios was the same as Elaina, that he would actively wish that on someone...on the woman he asked to marry him! He's not the Sora I knew as a girl. He wasn't the Sora I knew as a girl when I met him ten years after he disappeared. He's not the Sora you remember now."

[Diachronos]

Nissa stares at the heart, and she can feel her blood chilling in her veins. It couldn't be true, it just couldn't be. Sora would never do something like that! "How can you be sure it was him. And even if it was, did you ever think to ask him why?"

[NeoSeraphi]

Future Nissa returns the heart to its rightful place. "It was in the room. That's his room. He's the one who locked it up. If he was in possession of the heart, for whatever reason, and chose to lock it in a room instead of giving it back to Sakura, then that's as good as him ripping it out himself. And the only words I give to that monster are in Gnoll."

[Diachronos]

"...I'm beginning to think more and more that we're not really the same person." She starts to turn toward Tiana, but stops to look back at her future self. "Maybe we share the same upbringing and the same blood... but the difference between us is that I haven't given up. I haven't given up on Sora. And when I spent three months in the Abyss, I broke free of the curse Lamashtu placed on me, whereas you appear to have embraced it."

[NeoSeraphi]

Future Nissa laughs darkly. "Maybe so. Without Lamashtu's help, I couldn't have come back for my revenge. But hey, it works out well for you, after all, if I kill Arios now then you never have to worry about your little sister/daughter or your mother dying before their time, nor do you have to worry about a constant fight. Thanks to my intervention, The Black Sun did not end up taking over To'ko after Sasha's death, because Sasha didn't die."

[Diachronos]

"I will always have to worry about them dying. They're safe from this threat, but Max and Elaina have plenty of reasons to target me and my loved ones; what's to stop me from coming home tomorrow to find that my mother or children were murdered, or turned into Elaina's puppets? Maybe you did save To'ko from the Black Sun, but that doesn't change anything else you intend to do."

She thinks back to Sakura's apparent recovery of her emotions... was that another effect of Sora taking her heart? Or had he returned it to her? Why would he do that to her in the first place?

"You say you're coming back for revenge. Revenge on who? The Black Sun? Max? Sora?"

[NeoSeraphi]

Future Nissa chuckles sadly. "Man, we really are different people. You're talking about Max and Elaina like they're the biggest threats to your existence. Wow...I guess 200 years is a lot longer than I thought."

She rubs her temples. "For starters, I had to kill Taurus as quickly as possible. After he collected every gem and bound all of them to himself, becoming the World Catalyst, he was nearly unstoppable. Even after I managed to kill him and take all the gems back, The Black Sun's influence had reached too far and become too strong. There weren't enough monarchies left with strong blood, The Black Sun had been ruling for close to 100 years by that point, and that's enough to create a dynasty for humans."

The half-elf cracks her bare, ringless knuckles and shakes her head. "But I came back for Arios. No one else."

[Diachronos]

"Then why bother with anyone else? Why bother with the Council or the Black Sun at all if you're only concerned with him?"

[NeoSeraphi]

Future Nissa turns and slaps Nissa across the face. "What part of 'I saved my sister's life' don't you understand here?" she yells, the first real emotion she's shown since she appeared. "Do you think this is some kind of joke? I sold my soul to gain the power to travel through time, and I came back here immediately because I knew if I spent days pushing you in the right direction and giving you advantages I could stop that awful wedding from happening! Do you think I don't care about Tiana? Do you think I don't care about Taalia? You know what? F**k you, I don't want your help!" She shoves Nissa onto the ground and pulls her hood back over her face, drawing Arios's gargantuan greatsword from her back and slashing open a portal, jumping through it.

[Diachronos]

Nissa gets up, rubbing her cheek and frowning. Fair enough, she'd pretty much asked for that... Although now she had a tangled mess of problems to deal with. Like her future self wanting her husband dead, and the possibility of her husband being the sort of dark individual that she'd spent the past few months hunting down.

With a sigh she heads over to help Tiana with the deer. "Did you have fun with Parrn, Tiana?"

[NeoSeraphi]

Tiana smiles. "Mother! Mother look! You see where the arrow hit it? It was only my second try too! Mister Parrn says I have good aim!" She looks at Nissa hopefully and Nissa recalls that this poor girl spent three months trying her best to please a father that was incapable of showing her even the slightest bit of positive attention.

[Diachronos]

Nissa smiles and hugs her daughter. "You might make a better huntress than me, it took me a lot more than two shots to make a hit that good."

You might want to kill the man I love, but... thank you for helping me save Tiana...

[NeoSeraphi]

Tiana beams and hugs Nissa happily. There is a sound of small footsteps approaching and the two women pause, looking up sharply. But...the approaching creature is not an enemy, it's a...

"*Gasp* A bunny! A real, wild bunny!" Tiana whispers, trying to stay quiet so she doesn't scare it. The white rabbit hops around, sniffing at the ground, seemingly looking for something. The tiefling smiles as she watches the rabbit, giggling. She's happy to just be near it, and she rests her head on her mother's shoulder.

[Diachronos]

Nissa puts an arm around Tiana's shoulders and rests her other hand on Ghellin's head, the three of them content to just sit and watching the little creature.

[NeoSeraphi]

Sarkhan enters the clearing. "Lass, I been communing with nature to make sure we weren't being followed, and eh...well, yer gonna want ta 'ear this. There's some real chatter goin' on in the world right now. Sounds like a whole lot of the faithful 'ave been straight up murdered over night, and no one knows who did it!"

[Diachronos]

"What?" She sits up, looking to Sarkhan with a shocked expression. "...If it's the whole world talking about it, it's not just a couple here or there. Do you have an idea of which deities' worshipers they seem to be targeting?"

[NeoSeraphi]

Sarkhan shakes his head. "It doesn't seem to be based on deity, lass, but skill. Only 'ealers are gettin' the axe, Jalessi, Hurricane, and Highmarch are all fine, but Yassir, Volutia, Rhys and Holo, and Ocula all bit the dust."

[Diachronos]

Nissa closes her eyes and whispers a brief prayer for them all. "This doesn't make any sense, though... why just healers?" She rubs her chin in thought, before a chilling idea comes to her. "...Do you think they might be trying to remove anyone who can perform resurrections? Or who'd be able to stop a plague?"

[NeoSeraphi]

Sarkhan nods. "Aye lass. And we're not talking a small job 'ere. There's at least four 'undred people dead, overnight. Not a single person left who can bring 'em back, save Justin. And you said Justin's clocked out."

[Diachronos]

Yet another horrifying revelation, and one that fit perfectly into what just happened. "...I might know who's behind it, but it sound even crazier than the stories you used to tell me. Or my father told about me to Tiana."

[Gunhaven]

Parrn listened with half interest to the exchange between the future and present, glad he helped on some level, and had Courtaud take a portion of her cloak as she jumped through the portal. He pocketed the rag and said when Sarkhan returned (Gnoll) "Alocer told me such while you were meditating. He then made me His guardian and bestowed some of His might so that I could continue the hunt in His name." He resists the urge to teach the way he was taught about how in the forest only the strong survive and doesn't disturb the mother or daughter from the simpler things in life.

[NeoSeraphi]

Sarkhan opens his mouth to answer, but then the sound of rustling leaves kills his voice. The hunter instinctively turns around, searching for the source of the noise. Nissa and Parrn follow suit, but no one can tell where the sound is coming from, or what it might be.

"As much as I hate to admit, it's high time you and I were on the same side, Nissa Revane," a voice. Nissa glances behind her and sees Jalessi Dedoal standing there, looking very solemn. "Whoever is killing clerics in this world is very thorough. I received word from my contacts in Celestia that an assassin demon had made its way through the guarded gate and killed Iris. If this person not only has done enough research to know the true name of an outsider that regularly comes here to heal others, but also has the power to hire a contract on that outsider...then it's a foe I do not wish to stand against alone. Nissa. You need more allies. You have friends around the world, it's high time you started bringing them together."

Nissa's Leadership feat has turned to Mythic Leadership! (This is different from the Leadership, Mythic feat on the PFSRD). Mythic Leadership allows the followers from the Leadership feat to be cohorts instead. Nissa can now recruit cohorts of any alignment with her influence, and there is no limit to the number that she may have with her. Jalessi has joined the party as a cohort!

[Diachronos]

Nissa closes her eyes with a sigh. "You give me a lot more credit on that than I deserve. I have a few friends, yes, but nowhere near as many as you seem to think, and definitely not all over the world." Seeing the determination in Jalessi's eyes, she nods. "But you're right, this is a threat that we can't just ignore. Either this is another plot by the Black Sun, or the person behind this is after one person and doesn't care that this is going to affect a lot of innocent people."

[NeoSeraphi]

Jalessi nods. "Alright then. I'm off to go investigate Volutia's murder in detail. The castle is in ruins and the king and his vampiress sire are both nowhere to be seen, though it's quite obvious they're inside the two large coffins that survived the earthquake." Jalessi bows. "I'll keep in touch. You'll be the first to know when I learn anything useful." She vanishes.

[Diachronos]

Nissa watches as Jalessi disappears. "Stay safe..." She sighs and leans back against a tree, looking up into the sky. (Sylvan) "You say you're trying to fix your past, but if this is how you go about it you're just creating a whole new set of problems..."

She looks over at Sarkhan. "What do you plan on doing now? You can't exactly stay in this area without having to worry about being hunted, especially not after the calling card you just left in town."

[NeoSeraphi]

Sarkhan laughs. "Haha, yer the one who rescued me, lass! My safety is yer problem now! Where you go, I go."

[Diachronos]

Nissa chuckles. "I guess you're coming back to To'ko with us, then."

Doing the headcount again, she frowns. "Looks like I'm going to be making two trips to get us all back there, unless someone wants to take a boat. I'll take you, Tiana, and Ghellin back, then come back for Parrn and his wolves."

[NeoSeraphi]

Sarkhan nods in agreement. Tiana carefully hands Nissa back her bow and the pair lift up Tiana's buck to take back with them.

[Diachronos]

Nissa takes their hands and loops her arm around Ghellin's neck, then teleports the four of them back to the palace in To'ko. Once there, she asked the first guard she found if he could direct them to Sora and Sakura.

[Gunhaven]

Parrn butchered their deers and made sure everything was generally packed before he head out. He checked his maps of the general area to make sure he was going the right way and began his hike toward Mys'tai while generally avoiding any unnecessary delays unless Alocer deemed a hunt necessary. He paused every mile to scrounge for a couple hundred yards to maintain the pack's strength and stamina.

[NeoSeraphi]

The guards let Nissa know that Sakura is holed up at Elaina's manor, but they say that they haven't seen Arios in a while.

------------------------------------------------------------

Parrn begins the three day trek to Mys'tai, after sneaking through Jazi he makes his way to the mountains, where he finds a large group of giants in the middle of a celebration of some kind. They are dancing around a fire and singing and roasting meat and drinking.

[Diachronos]

Oh dammit, not again... She heads to Elaina's manor with Sarkhan and Tiana in tow, hoping that this wasn't some kind of trap waiting to be sprung on them. And that Sakura was either with Celeste or that she'd know where her daughter was.

[NeoSeraphi]

Nissa opens the door to the manor.

It's rainin' men!
Hallelujah, it's rainin' men!
Every specimen!
Tall, blonde, dark and lean!
Rough and tough and strong and mean!
I'm gonna go out
I'm gonna let myself get
Absolutely soaking wet!
It's rainin' men!
Hallelujah it's rainin' men!
Amen!

Nissa (and Tiana) see Sakura eagerly crawling between a horde of Elaina's formerly mind-controlled servants, panting and shouting out where she wants which male. Nissa is treated to quite a display of the distinctions that can be made between various male anatomies.

Celeste can be seen sleeping peacefully in another room.

[Gunhaven]

Parrn stops to consider his options before settling on waiting until the party was sufficiently hammered. He had no rush to meet back up with Nissa yet and could use the chance to work out how one makes paper cartridges for these accursed rifles.

[NeoSeraphi]

The giants party well into the night, getting nice and drunk and heading off to their various tents with their wives.

[Gunhaven]

With the rest done, Parrn begins the journey again as he keeps to the edge of the giant's camp. He keeps an ear out for the off chance they speak in common or he hears some treasure being jingled. Otherwise he and has wolves maintain their stealth.

[Diachronos]

Nissa hurriedly ushers Tiana back out the door and heads to collect Celeste. As she heads out, she turns to Sakura. (Sylvan) "I hope I'm not interrupting anything, but do you know where Sora went?"

[NeoSeraphi]

Sakura looks up in surprise and grins. "Heeeeeey, it's Nissssaa! Hey e'erybody! Nissaaaaaa's heeeere! Come on Nissaaaa, I warmed em up for you!" She pats a spot on the floor next to her with a grin.

-------------------------------------------------------------


Parrn walks slowly across the dark camp, hearing nothing but light snoring and itch scratching.

Once he has made it past the giant camp, he is still atop the mountain, and his wolves let him know he must rest for the night.

[Diachronos]

Nissa shakes her head. "No thanks. Do you know where my husband is?"


Somehow, this doesn't seem like Sakura's normal behavior... Sense Motive: [roll0]

[NeoSeraphi]

Her 'normal behavior' is something Nissa's never seen before, seeing as until very recently Sakura was cursed to be unable to feel any emotions. Now that she can enjoy getting drunk and having sex all day like a nymph is supposed to, that's what she's probably going to spend a lot of her time doing.

Sakura blinks. "What, who, Arios? Last I heard he was in Mys'tai, killing up a storm! Gotta feed those Black Blades, and they're real picky eaters."

[Gunhaven]

Parrn pressed on for another half hour before he found a safe place to camp for a few hours, his wolves rotating watch with him so that they could be relatively well protected and rested.

[NeoSeraphi]

Parrn sleeps for the night and continues onward, until he reaches Mullmoon, the City of War. The orc chieftain and his council stand at attention before a horde of orc and Uruk soldiers, blowing on the war horn angrily. The chief clears his throat. He barks out a long and apparently inspiring speech in his native tongue, and the war drummers start slamming on the drums angrily as the army begins to march towards Mys'tai.

[Diachronos]

"What? Killing what?!" This wasn't good; were there even any fey in Mys'tai anymore? If not... he needed to be separated from those blades.

[Gunhaven]

Parrn grinned at the good fortune he found himself under as he stuck around in his lookout spot while looking for any wolves they had managed to train. If such fine specimens existed then he barked quietly for Asena, blessed as she was by their Lord, to scout ahead and learn through her brethren what their companions were doing. If the orcs objected to the wolf then she could slink away and circle toward the group.

[NeoSeraphi]

The wolves communicate to Asena that they are marching on the human city of Mys'tai, two days from here.

---------------------------------------------

Sakura takes a moment and swallows, before answering, "Probably either prisoners or demons. He's not so far gone yet that he'll attack innocents. Still got at least another five days before he's that lost."

[Diachronos]

"...Prisoners from what?" Deciding to cut to the chase rather than just dance around the issue at hand, Nissa purses her lips. "Sakura, I ran into someone who's out for Sora's head. Someone who's out for his head precisely because he has a chance of losing himself that badly. If there's something about his condition that you're hiding, I need to know."

[NeoSeraphi]

Sakura stops what she's doing and stands up, blasting a small harmless shockwave of fire around her that knocks all her suitors off her, leaving them dazed but not scorched. She draws in the air for a moment and a full outfit appears out of nothing, flying and settling onto her figure very snugly. She glances at Nissa with a raised eyebrow. "I assume you're referring to the you from the future, right? What about her? She's here to kill Arios before he can go crazy and become The Lord of the Nine Hells. And she's going to fail and her death is going to be what causes him to fall to that extreme in the first place. In her timeline, it's because Tiana dies at their wedding that Arios loses his cool, but the Arios that spawns from accidentally killing his wife in self-defense is much much worse. This timeline only has an estimated 50 years left before it's completely destroyed by him. Just goes to show you shouldn't try to mess with the time stream. There's a reason that Lamashtu is the only goddess who gives that power, you know."

[Gunhaven]

When Asena returns, Parrn skirts the horde. He once again kept an ear out on the off chance his lack of languages would come in handy while he sent Asena in to make sure nothing changed drastically. He did think back to what the nymph said and figures these are her orcs but has yet to see the big deal with them attacking Mys'tai. Still he tried to slowly work his way to be at least near the front for the first day and a half.

[NeoSeraphi]

The chieftain leading the charge notices Parrn. "Halt!" The company stops moving. The chieftain rides his worg over to where Parrn is following them. "Good day, my friend. I don't see many gnolls in this part of the world. Might you be heading to Kai'Zhal, the City of Dreams?"

[Diachronos]

Nissa stares at the nymph, almost as dumbfounded as when she'd confronted her future self earlier that day. "...I don't even know where to start. Probably should start with how you met her, but that's the least of my worries right now. What leads up to Sora killing me or my future self in 50 years? And how do you even know all of this?"

[NeoSeraphi]

Sakura laughs. "I've never met her, silly! But that doesn't mean we didn't know she was coming. They don't call Cassandra 'The Omniscient' for nothing, you know. Arios is The Destroyer, he is incapable of escaping the Wrath in his heart and in every timeline that exists, he is the cause of the destruction of this plane. Thanks to your future self's interference, however, there are multiple timelines being created, and in each one he ends the world in a different way."

Sakura slows down. "Whoa, I didn't say he killed you or your future self in 50 years. I said he destroyed the world in 50 years. He's probably going to take out the you from the future in...eh, well, whenever she decides to make her move? Two days, maybe? I don't know, how long did she seem like she was going to wait?"

[Diachronos]

"Let me put it this way... the only reason she didn't go back and kill him when he was born was because Lamashtu wouldn't let her go back that far." She sighs and adjusts Celeste in her arms so that she can rub one of her temples. "Just so I have this right... is trying to stop her from killing my husband a complete waste of time?"

[NeoSeraphi]

Sakura shakes her head. "Nissa, if you were bound by the same rules as the Council you wouldn't have been able to go back in time to begin with. This timeline has already been altered by your actions, you can stop yourself from altering it further if you like. I have no idea how you'd do that though, considering you have no idea where she is or how to track her. Not to mention she's much more powerful than you...age does that to a person, but so does fighting for your entire plane's existence and freedom."

[Diachronos]

"That last one I'm used to. I might've completed the ritual to gain mythic magic, but I don't have 200 years to screw around and get stronger like she did, and I don't have a deity on my side either." She closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. "Then there's the issue with the mass murders of the world's healers... from what Sarkhan told me, Justin's the only one left, and he has his bitch of a mother to deal with right now. I don't know if it's my future self who did it or more of Max's insanity, but it's a problem either way. Enough of one that Mother Dedoal thinks I'm the one best suited to getting people together to solve it for some reason."

[NeoSeraphi]

Sakura shrugs. "If you want to solve the problem, you're going to need a lot more than just yourself and your daughter do it, won't you?"

[Diachronos]

"That much is true. Somehow I doubt that I've got enough allies around the world to handle this at the moment, though." Rocking Celeste, she moves a little closer to Sakura. "How do we go about removing Sora's bond to the black blades? We likely don't have the time to worry about it now, but keeping him away from their influence might buy us more time to ensure he doesn't become the Destroyer."

[Gunhaven]

With a smile and a slight bow, Parrn worked his hands into Asena and Courtaud's fur. Between his companions he said "Alocer send me all over. Need to get to To'ko now. Asena say you march on hairless city. Nymph order? Expansion? Hunt?" At mention of her name, Parrn squeezed Asena slightly to help mark her his totemic guide.

[NeoSeraphi]

The chieftain shakes his head. "None of the above. We go now as sacrifices to The Destroyer. Our god has commanded we must feed his rage, and so we all go under the guise of war, so that he may cut us all down and burn this world in the flames of Hell."

--------------------------------------------------

Sakura frowns. "No, you see, he already is The Destroyer. That's his fate. He can't escape it. He thought he could, which is why he left the Council to begin with, but he is unable to stray from his predetermined role, same as the rest of us. Max is The Antagonist, his job is to make sure that Arios goes over the edge by pushing him as hard as possible. Elaina is The Temptress, her job is to make sure that Arios's love for you doesn't get in the way of his hatred. That's why she was trying to break his heart even before he met you, to try and keep him from ever loving you to begin with."

[Diachronos]

Nissa stares at Sakura like she'd just grown a second head. "Are you f***ing serious? Who the hell decided that this was how things have to be? Who's pulling the strings and forcing you to do this?"

[NeoSeraphi]

Sakura frowns. "Dense as usual...no one's forcing us to act this way. It's the logical progression of our personalities after we inherited the Sins. The Seven's final revenge on mankind. If they couldn't rule the world, they'd poison its new rulers instead."

[Diachronos]

"Then what's the damned point in stopping my future self? You lot aren't even trying to fight back against the Seven's influence, and even though he's not bonded to a Heart, Justin's too busy blindly worship that 8-legged bitch the Council calls a goddess to think about anything else." Her hand clenches into a fist. "Hell, at this point I might as well help her kill Sora if you're so sure he's beyond saving."

[NeoSeraphi]

Sakura chuckles. "But you won't. You're a wild card, Nissa. Not even Cassandra is ever entirely sure what you'll do next. And if you get it into your mind that Arios isn't the kind of person who would destroy the world, you'll do your damnedest to stop him."

[Diachronos]

Nissa calms down a little at that; at least someone thought she would be able to do something about this. "What are the other roles that you all are supposed to be filling?"

[NeoSeraphi]

Sakura strokes her chin. "Cassandra is The Chessmaster. She moves all of us into place, gives us commands in order to make sure that we do as we are fated. Justin is The Immortal, he never dies in any possible timeline because Arios refuses to kill him, and so he is able to report to Cassandra from various timelines and tell her how things change based on certain events or actions. That's how each Cassandra keeps up with the other worlds, which is how I know about the future. Orion is The Traitor, he is the person who orchestrates the events in Jazi (the kidnapping of Maria) that first led you to Arios to begin with, which is how Arios gets attached to you again (as well as Tiana) and how he eventually falls in love and then is left with nothing but hatred. Alicia is The Catalyst, her job is to constantly hunt you until she finally catches you in To'ko and kills either you or Tiana, which sets the whole thing in motion."

[Diachronos]

"So we've been looking for someone who was disguising themselves as Orion, when it was actually him the whole time?" Nissa frowns. "Well, at least that question's finally answered, for what little it's worth... What about you, Sakura? Don't you have some role in all of this?"

[NeoSeraphi]

The air chills and five red locks wrap themselves around the nymph's heart. "Indeed I do, Nissa. Indeed I do. But that doesn't mean I'll tell you everything, now does it?" She winks.

[Gunhaven]

Parrn looked confused at the choice and slowly said "Is poor hunt that way. Why sacrifice when prey is so easy to find. No..." He tapped the chieftain and his Worg in thought before he took a step back. He grinned at a crazy idea, saying with a hint of bloodlust "Why not duel? Alocer teach you hunt." He let out a hyena's mocking laughter.
So gonna use that Imprinting Hand to learn weaknesses and such.
Orc: [roll0]
Worg: [roll1]
Intimidate: [roll2] only if needed to get this crazy idea going.

[Diachronos]

Nissa closes her eyes and thinks over what she knew. "Well, if you're not willing to come out and tell me, then it's probably related to either me, Sora, or our relationship in some way."

[NeoSeraphi]

The orc chieftain shakes his head solemnly. "As you have your god and His teachings, so have we ours and His." He and his men continue onwards.

----------------------------------------------------------

Sakura doesn't bat an eye, but a single lock breaks. "That's probably true. If it wasn't related to Arios in some way or another, it wouldn't exactly be a role in ending the world."

[Diachronos]

Nissa hesitates before asking her next question, though considering she already knew about her future self it wasn't like this was guaranteed to come out of nowhere. "Does it have to do with the fact that Sora had your heart locked away in his attic?"

[NeoSeraphi]

Sakura blinks in surprise, and another lock shatters. "How did you...damn, that stupid girl from the future really is doing her best to ruin everything, isn't she? Bad enough that she brought back a group of Hearts that we can't control."

The nymph sighs and her demeanor shifts. She looks at Nissa with disdain. "Fine, so you know the truth then. I haven't been cured. I'm still cursed, and I'm still heartless. What does that have to do with you?"

[Diachronos]

"That's what I don't understand. Why is it so important for you to have your heart stolen and locked away like that? Are you supposed to be a source of guilt for Sora or something?"

[NeoSeraphi]

The nymph shakes her head. "Nope. But...well, I guess you've come this far. No harm in giving up the gambit." Her locks shatter on their own and she runs one hand through her long orange hair. It shifts in color to black, the same shade that she dyes it for Arios. "As I said, your role is that of The Wild Card. You are an annoyance who exists to give humankind a fighting chance against their fate. The Tarot are very odd gods, I must say. You represent free will and desire to endure in this world. That's why we tried to kill you off by taking you on that trip near that cave with the hydra in it. Alicia disguised herself as a hooded figure and killed you, but The Tarot decided that was cheating and forced us to help Arios revive you before we could continue the game."

She looks annoyed. "And so, while everyone else is tasked with dealing with The Destroyer, Alicia and I are tasked with dealing with you, The Wild Card. Alicia is The Catalyst. She acts as your enemy, and does her best to try and make sure you perish in just the right way to inspire the most pain and suffering in Arios. And I play the role of The Deceiver. I act as your friend, guide and companion, but my real job is to make sure you're always in place for Alicia to easily attack you. That's why I planned that bachelorette party in the forest in the middle of nowhere so that Alicia could kill you, and why I told Arios he could leave To'ko and go hunting while Max and the others began taking over the guards in the city to attack the wedding."

[Gunhaven]

With a shrug, Parrn follows along at the front of the army. He slowly started to edge out ahead hour by hour so that he could maybe get on a boat or warn someone about the coming suicidal orcs.