[IC] Ravenloft. Revisited.

[Gordian Nought]

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@BCTheEntity Talran Galelove – Medium Friendly Paladin

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Talran's immediate response, upon Egil's collapse, was to run to him, his psyche suddenly occupied with his pain over all others, even more than Mhyrienne's fool act of spellcasting - something Lady Anala rightly called her out on. And dear gods, he seemed to be pained - his ears leaked blood, and his body was only now ceasing to twitch from convulsions. Yet, most queerly, when Talran checked his pulse at his neck, he seemed... well? Or at very least, his heart beat strong, and his face's placidity was not that of impending death, but mere dim unconsciousness. Why would...?

And then something smacked into him, cracking across the back of his skull most painfully. Indeed, even as he felt for damage, his mind seemed to implode upon itself, the pressure in his head reaching fever pitch and forcing him to scream in agony. Shortly, it also forced him to vomit loudly, something he thankfully managed to achieve after crawling away from the other man's body, rather than before.
Something seemed to slip away from him in those moments. He clawed at it mentally, but for the life of him, he couldn't figure out what he'd just lost. It wasn't like he'd been doing anything dangerous, merely that he was in... what seemed to be a house, with... with, erm...

Where was he? And who were these people? What was going on here? Who... who... he didn't remember himself, even. Had he lost his mind? Surely he'd remember what had happened up to this point if he just thought... no, nothing, nothing came to mind, it was like he'd suddenly appeared kneeling over a puddle of what tasted like acid in his mouth. What was going on?!
And who was that?

'I'd appreciate your help, friends,' the other person stated as they clambered out of the hole he'd just been in and walked toward him, clad in armor much like... he was wearing armor, obviously, with a sword and shield, and they seemed to be matched by the gear held by this other person. 'I think Egil's unconscious again, and this time, most of you aren't doing much to begin with.' Wait a moment, that skin tone... he looked down at his own hands, pale as the other chap's, grabbed a strand of his own blond locks and compared them to the other's hair...

That was him. But... but he was him! He wasn't there, he was here, he... what?!

'Uh, someone?' he called, standing up again and raising his weapon toward the apparent imposter. 'Please help! There's a dangerous matter at hand... I think?'

[Gordian Nought]

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@Zverda Anala Attor & @Big Dread Sister Azah Rimeflar

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"Help shall come," Anala called back to Talran before turning her attention back to the mirror the best she could, "We have an accord, I will release no one but you and our friend. Let us just hope I will not end up in your place. I rather look at my reflection Azah, than be someone else's after all." She snickered a bit at the thought of being someone else's rather than her own, but of course, she made sure to say the command phrase. May as well reward the person who was helping them get the Puppeteer out of the bloody thing.

"Now... if you could dispel this darkness so we can get our last friend out quickly and dispatch whatever ghastly thing is trying to pick off our comrades, that would be wonderful."

Freedom washed over Azah like the caress of a lover long forgotten. She took a deep breath of the air that was not the strange otherworldly mist. The area around her was dark, tight, but, it was something different and that was more than enough to flood her with relief. She took a few careful steps forward, away from where she knew the mirror was and slightly into the darkness. She grinned, half mad and raised her charred staff. “Kossuth! Hear my plea and banish these shadows that creepeth in minds and eyes!” her voice rose to a fury and she slammed the butt of her staff down on the floor.

The twisted flame ornament atop her staff burst with white flames and expanded out around Azah in a holy inferno. The darkness vanished in the wake of the holy cleansing. The flames licked at the air, hissing and popping, revealing the mirror and people once shrouded from sight. There was a new woman among those who had been there a moment before. She stood taller than the average woman and clad in charred loose robes. The robes themselves were difficult to make out, as were the features of the woman herself, thanks to the ever burning flames that seemed to feed on her robes without consuming them. The fire rose and twisted in the air around the staff wielding woman as her hard black eyes scanned the room around them, locking on the armored man on the floor and the other version of him standing near the hole in the floor.

“It is among us,” the flaming woman hissed, “I shall burn it to ashes and see what tricks it can play in the furnace of my wrath.”

>Azah uses her Radiance of Dawn Channel Divinity feature to banish the darkness as well as deal 2D10+4 radiant damage to any hostile creature within 30ft of her, or, half as much on a failed Con save DC 14. She current has Continual Flame spell activated on her robes.