Strange Aeons (blaze gamma X ShadowPlay) [NSFW]

Exilis turned to Tiana. "Nothing?" He asked her as he stepped up to speak more quietly. "She's alive," he told her. "I'm going to splint her leg then question her. I'm not going to bother with magic for now. Just enough to get her on her feet, not enough to allow her to fight if she is one of them." He said, walking over to one of the dead bodies and tearing off some cloth from it. He then walked over to a chair, attempting to find a good solid part that could be used as a splint. "You can stop pretending." He said aloud as he worked. "I'm going to set up your leg, but you're going to give us some answers."
 
The old lady opened her eyes fully. "Ohh. Thank you good sir. I was afraid that you were monsters out to eat me." She said with a frail voice. "If you could just help me to sit I would be very grateful." She said, "Then I will gladly answer your questions." She gave him a pleasant smile. "I'm Bethany by the way. I work as the washing lady."
 
"Just trying to figure out what's going on here." Exilis said matter of factly. "You'll understand why I'm not going to use magic to heal you." He told her as he approached. "What's going on here? Do you know where those creatures came from?" As he spoke, he cast a spell to clean the torn cloth he'd prepared. "Call me E, call her T."

Before Exilis went to work, he cast several small blessings on himself, both trying to take a measure of the truth of the woman's words, and to make sure he did the best work he could in spite of his lack of any formal training.

[ 1d20+6 = 19 ] Sense Motive [ 1d20+5 = 23 ] 22. I don't have guidance prepared, and can't use Blessing of the Faithful on Heal due to it being a standard action Heal
 
The woman seemed like a nice old lady. There appeared to be no deception in her demeanor or her voice. But that was only until Exilis came close enough to start dressing her wound.

Doppelganger.png
Suddenly she changed shape into a vile monster. Long talons lashed out after Exilis and a long slithering tongue tried to capture him. This creature was the same sort of monster as the one they had left dead in the cellar.

Though surprised, Exilis had been so much on guard that he reacted even faster than the shapechanger.

[ 1d20+1 = 9 ] Doppelganger Initiative
[ 1d20+5 = 14 ] Exilis Initiative
[ 1d20+1 = 3 ] Tiana Initiative
 
"Tch..." Exilis skidded back, dropping the rags and wood he'd been carrying. "Alright, have it your way, then!" He held out his hand. And nothing seemed to happen,

Setting Blast Rune, electric damage, after 5 foot step.
 
The doppelganger laughed out with a hoarse laughter at Exilis' apparent futile attempt and then it lashed forward. It only got to take one step before being electrocuted by the rune. The creature tried to lash out against Exilis with its long sharp claws. The claws connected with Exilis and cut deep into his flesh, dealing massive damage.

Tiana let out a cry, "Get behind me!" And she moved quickly up next to Exili to hit the monster. She would smite the creature for it's imprudence of attacking her new friend. Her heavy sword sliced the air next to the monster's head, causing it to shift it's focus on Tiana rather than Exilis.

Smite imprudence (Char bonus to hit, half level to damage, +1 Temporary HP)

[ 1d6 = 3 ] Electricy damage
[ 1d20+8 +6= 25 23] Doppelganger claw [ 1d8+4 2 = 9 7] Damage
[ 1d20+9 = 12 ] Smite vs. doppelganger [ 1d8+5 = 11 ] Slashing damage
 
Exilis spoke a small blessing on Tiana, and then waved his hand again. For a moment, he blinked out of existence, appearing 10 feet away from both Tiana and the doppelganger. From there, he moved back another 25 feet,((Or until he reaches a wall, but the point is he's as far away as he can get with 35 feet of movement)). He then turned on his heels, prepared to face down what happened in spite of his wounds.

Blessing of the Faithful (AC) on Tiana, then using Dimensional slide as part of move action to get out of AoO range and get away. One point remaining in Reservoir.
 
With Exilis out of the way, the doppelganger attacked twice with its claws, both attacks bouncing off of Tiana's armor.

She decided that the doppelganger seemed more dangerous than the one they had fought in the cellar. Or perhaps the one in the cellar had been too unaware and unprepared of them. Nevertheless, she kept on the defensive as she fought. Her sword bit deep in the doppelganger and it screamed in pain.

Fighting defensively: AC 24 (+8 armor +2 shield +2 dodge +2 blessing)

[ 1d20+5 = 20 ] Fighting defensively [ 1d8+5 = 10 ] Slashing damage
[ 1d20+8 = 12 ] Doppelganger claw [ 1d8+4 = 9 ] Damage
[ 1d20+6 = 11 ] Doppelganger claw [ 1d8+2 = 9 ] Damage
 
Exilis stepped forward slightly. There was precious little he could do to support effectively for now. A few more steps, and he cast a spell, a wave of divine energy empowering Tiana's strikes.

Putting up Bless for 1 minute
 
The fight raged on. While Exilis blessed his companion, the doppelganger tried to slice and dice her. Tiana's armor protected her as she lashed back at the monster. Her blade was deflected by the beast's leathery skin.

[ 1d20+6 = 10 ] Doppelganger claw [ 1d8+2 = 10 ] Damage
[ 1d20+6 = 9 ] Doppelganger claw [ 1d8+2 = 8 ] Damage
[ 1d20+6 = 13 ] Fighting defensively [ 1d8+5 = 8 ] Slashing damage
 
From how Tiana was doing, Exilis felt as if she was more than capable of shrugging off the enemy's blows for a while. In the meantime, if he could speed things up, it seemed to be the safest bet, even if it was only by a small amount. And so, he held up his hand, an orb of magic appearing in it, and launching at the shapeshifter, effortlessly weaving around the armored warrior.
[ 1d4+1 = 3 ] Magic Missile
 
Exilis' spell, like the homing missile it was, hit true and damaged the doppleganger. The creature retaliated against Tiana and while one claw were blocked by the shield, the other slashed shoulder, drawing blood.

Tiana cursed, "By Charon. I will carve you up like the animal you are." Her sword hit the monster hard, drawing blood. The doppelganger, were seriously wounded. It was only hanging on to its life by a thread.

[ 1d20+6 = 22 ] Doppelganger claw [ 1d8+2 = 4 ] Damage
[ 1d20+6 = 13 ] Doppelganger claw [ 1d8+2 = 9 ] Damage
[ 1d20+6 = 24 ] Fighting defensively [ 1d8+5 = 8 ] Slashing damage
 
Exilis launched another attack on the creature, this one the same cantrip he'd used when he first awoke, a cold burst flying from his hand, the spell flying wild. He cursed under his breath, frustrated by how wildly he'd fired.
[ 1d20-2 = 1 ] Ray of frost [ 1d3 = 1 ] damage
 
The frost spell went wide astray, freezing a cobweb somewhere in the furthest corner of the room. However the doppelganger, dodging the magic, too wildly, critically miscalculated it's reactions and hurt its claw on Tiana's shield. The warrior exploited the opportunity and with a fell swoop of her sword, she decapitated the monster.

"Fuck that was a tough one." She let out in a heavy breath before looking back, "Are you alright?" She asked.

[ 1d20+6 = 7 natural one1 ] Doppelganger claw [ 1d8+2 = 5 ] Damage
[ 1d20+6 = 22 ] Fighting defensively [ 1d8+5 = 10 ] Slashing damage
 
Exilis sighed. "Been better, but could be a lot worse." He said, holding up his holy symbol, a wave of positive energy flowing out from it. "Hopefully this will be enough to get the others to let us in and give us some proper answers..." He walked over and picked up the removed head. "What a troublesome thing."
[ 1d6 = 4 ] channeling positive energy
 
The positive energies flowing over her healed the damage from the doppelganger attack. "Thank you for that." She said and looked at the dead creature. Next to it Tiana saw a razor sharp surgeon's knife. There were some bloody residues on the blade. It could very well have been used to slice the pieces of skin from the corpses in the room. "Yeah. It was pretty nasty. I hope there aren't many more of those." She said.
 
"Maybe we'll get lucky and we'll be able to convince one of the others to act as meat shields for us." Exilis sighed as he collected up the other grisly pieces the pale creature had likely been working on. "And sorry to disappoint, but as far as burst healing like that, that's all I have in me. I've one more spell that I can use to heal, but after that, all I have left is a couple of potions. Not that my magic would be any more effective." He then started back towards the door, heading towards the barricade, holding the head in his left hand.

"Cheesecake," He called out, a slight bitterness in his tone at the absurdity of the codeword they'd come up with.
 
"I was glad for the healing you provided. I can't do much better myself. I have a single alchemical concoction ready. But it's only usable on myself." She shrugged, "I know totally selfish." Not that she felt bad about being selfish. Her own survival was more important to her than anyone else. "But a meat shield would be useful, though I doubt those fools at the barricade could do much in the way of protecting us from creatures such as these." She pointed to the headless doppelganger and the two on the floor. "Only at range with plenty of crossbow bolts have they managed to get those down."

They returned to the barricade with the head from the doppelganger. When Exilis called out, one of the guards behind the barricade responded, "Cheesecake? I love cheesecake.... ehh. I mean. Get the captain."

"I'm already here you..." A loud sigh was heard behind the barricade. "So you've killed one doppelganger? I think I said that you needed to kill a few to be allowed in here." York was cautious and a bit paranoid.
 
Exilis tutted. In the stress of the moment, he must have forgotten that, or perhaps he simply hadn't caught the detail. Either way. "I don't suppose you could treat this as something of a show of good faith. We are a bit low on supplies as things stand. I don't suppose there's anything you could loan us to help with our culling? I'm sure it would be mutually beneficial to do so. Only so much two people can do after all."
[ 1d20+4 = 11 ] Diplomancy
 
Exilis' words didn't move the hardened survivor of the asylum rebellion. "No a deal is a deal. Show us that you've killed at least one more doppelganger."

Tiana remembered something. "What about the one we killed in the cellar? We could go down after that one as well." They would have to pass the awful sight of the decomposing corpses. But then they'd have proof that they killed two doppelgangers.

"Oh. So you killed one in the cellar?" York said from the other side of the barricade. "If you get that one I'll let you in."
 
"Fair enough." Exilis said, turning to Tiana. "Better than dealing with another one, certainly," he muttered as they started their trek back. "So, shall we take the furnace or go through the muck?" He asked. Either way, they'd likely have a bit more time to talk.
 
Tiana wasn't happy about the prospect of going back into the cellar. Neither path seemed like something she wanted to repeat. But after all, the corpse pile, while disgusting, it posed little threat to them. The narrow path, seemed a bit more dangerous. Just the claustrophobic thought of being stuck there frightened her. "How about we take the stairs?" She asked.
 
Exilis nodded curtly. He was mildly annoyed, sure that they had mentioned their previous encounter already, but as long as it was something that worked, he decided he would shrug it off. "It's truly aggravating..." He sighed as they walked. "To have such important knowledge of one's self missing... to not know anything of the situation... One would think they would be scared... but that's not what I'm finding. It's more anger than anything else."
 
Tiana could only agree with him. "Yes, I feel the same. I'm quite pissed at whoever did this to me. I know I must have had a life before I ended up naked in a cell. But everything I try to think about comes up empty. Only a few odd images here and there, but nothing that makes sense."

They reached the cellar door. "Alright. A deep breath. We are doing this as fast as possible." She looked at Exilis to see if he agreed.
 
Exilis nodded once more, moving full speed ahead through the room. Of course, without any armor weighing him down, he was a bit more nimble than his companion, able to traverse the room just a bit faster than her.
 
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