The Shirvain abilities of Varlum had the intended effect, slowing the movements of the three fleeing. However, the Judge himself was unnaturally fast, more than one might expect even of a great athlete. Yet the Judge himself didn’t appear anything special athletically, so must have drawn his strength from another source entirely. Perhaps Faldrun, given his affiliation which had been unmasked by Faith.
As the three fled, in the midst of Varlum’s slowing of time, the two bodyguards fell behind the Judge himself. He was forced to lock them out of the Undercroft leading into the basement of the church. They nevertheless dutifully guarded it, cowering before the huge Ithecal that threatened to attack them. They did brandish their weapons at first, not with intention or even willingness to attack the huge reptilian humanoid before them. To them, he must have seemed as the pent up anger and hatred of Ithecal slaves in Quacian territory, given flesh.
As he followed in the Judge’s wake, he did indeed catch his scent. What he could tell from it, was that the Judge was no slouch when it came to his own discipline, skill, and abilities. He was at the very least a master combatant, with an implacable nerve and will to power. Power that he saw through service to Faldrun. At any rate, even though they were behind the door, which appeared rather weakly reconstructed from an earlier demolition, it would be a simple matter for Varlum to track him later.
Yet, he was not content to leave it at that. He roared his fury at the remaining Aukari, as well as at the back of the Judge. The sound traveled as far as the Aukari agent, and for a split second Varlum thought he could detect the slightest hint of mingling fear and revulsion. Yet he was unmoved, and if anything quickened his pace through those tunnels.
Meanwhile, the two aukari bodyguards who had been slowed enough not to join him behind the door, were cowed, dropping their weapons and holding their heads. They begged for mercy in Vahanic.
The crowd parted easily for Faith as she shouted for them to get out of the way. The Herald followed close behind her and Padraig. The Herald wrung his hands as he beheld the badly burned Stone Priestess.
The woman was indeed badly burned, and it took at least a few bits for Faith to, with the aid of her own Sevrath abilities, heal the damage done to the fallen priestess. Yet, when her efforts were enough to resuscitate the priestess, her own abiltiies added to Faith’s own, and they were strong. Adored level, at least.
Before long, with the fine healing ability of Faith, she was able to bring her back to her senses, and though she still bore the marks of her wounds, Faith was able to soothe her pain until she could affect a more lasting healing for her.
The Sevrath was awakened before Faith could put the screws to the Herald, who stuck himself near Faith but at a respectful distance. The congregation was still quite confused by all that was happening, wondering what this might mean, and murmurs about the Herald possibly being mad, and never having heard of a Harbinger, began filtering through the general din of their chatter.
The Sevrath coughed as she came to, and as Faith asked her what had happened to her, ”We need… Where is the Judge? I was… I was about to put an end to his sacrilege, and prove to these people once and for all that their Wounded God is the cause of their constant misery. Whether the Quod Disserpum, what they call the Creep, or the constant blood sacrifice, weakening their wills. I tried to bring them under the protection of our Lady Moseke.”
The Herald scoffed at that, and crossed his arms, ”She lies Harbinger. She is here on behalf of the creators of the Quod Disserpum, the meddlesome false gods who want nothing more than to wipe Quacia off the face of Idalos. Her ‘Moseke’ is the progenitor of the Quod Disserpum!”
The Sevrath seemed aggitated by this accusation, and began another fit of coughing, which Faith was able to soothe in time for her to speak more, ”I only wanted to help and heal Quacia. And so does Moseke. But I’m afraid, it may be too little too late.”
The Herald scoffed, and listened to Faith’s words, that they had been infiltrated. He went agape, and shook his head. ”We’ve known some of those with that mark for generations. They’ve been here for arcs, coming arcs ago to Quacia, and infiltrating even the Royal Court. You’re saying they’re Immortal spies?”
]”The red-haired ones, who wear only black robes. Not the red collar. They belong to the Judge, who has helped us root out the Immortal worshipping scum from the dregs of the city in arcs past.”
Jasper, meanwhile, sank into a meditative trance, as he tried to break through the interference presented by Eldloga’s influence. He could sense something… something in the tunnels beneath the earth. It was hard to identify, the same way that Faith’s diri had escaped his notice, so too was there a presence that stirred up anak of turmoil, fire, and ruin. There was a battle between that, Eldloga, and the ambient spirits that existed just beneath the ground.
Yet, the stones in this place spoke nothing to him. It was as if they were long dead, as if quarried from their spiritual home so long ago that they even forgot they were stone.
