"Aaah, there they are!" Felicia smiles, hurriedly picking up her deck, and checking if everything was there. "Thanks, Dinah, you go ahead and use that spell of yours to track Angelica." She hums, fighting the urge to rub her face against her cards. Partner, you're back! She thinks to herself, though now she wonders what'll happen since she has two spirits with her...
The nun, though still pale, seems well enough to move under her own power. "Thank you." She says shakily, giving Julia a slight bow. "I can guide you through the building's defenses. Where do you want to go? There's the vault, the living quarters, the prison, the gym, and a bunch more places."
She hears a low humming in return, but it doesn't last long before fading away. Dinah holds the false phallus tightly, muttering something with her eyes closed. Spoiler: Dinah's Spell Roll 75+10(Mage)+10(object)-20(defenses)=75 success The woman's amber eyes snap open. "She's downstairs--in the dungeon. I can't take us straight to her, but I can shift us nearby." She gives Felicia a look of caution. "With how you reacted to this-" Dinah waves the dildo around. "-I'm not sure you want to go down there."
"Haaah." Felicia lets out a relieved sigh, pocketing her deck, and the stack of money she found in Angelica's stash. Consider payment for my clothes. She grumbles, standing up as Dinah uses her magic. It seems the nun is lucky with her spells as she finds their target. "Dungeon?" She tilts her head, wondering why nuns would have a prison. Until Dinah gave her reply, "W-what!? What does a dungeon have to do with th-that?" She shuddered, shaking her head. "Fine, forget about Angelica for now, I already have my deck. Can you at least tell where our companions are? We came here with three more people, but were teleported when we entered the front door."
"Hmm?" Adam raises an eyebrow. "I don't know. Which one of those places is your leader hiding in? Wait, prison? Are you holding anyone at the moment?"
Michio gives Felicia a friendly punch to the shoulder. "Glad you found them!" Even though it was a weak one, the redhead's arm stings a little. "You don't want to chase the cow down?" The one-eyed woman turns serious. "I guess we can finish her off after Carley." "Can you describe them? I have to know a few things about someone in order to find their location." Dinah replies, almost chiding. "It feels like I'm starting to run kind of low on magical energy too. I only have a handful more spells in me without some time to rest."
@Arachna "I don't know where Mistress Carley is. We could try her room?" Adam's servant offers. "Yeah, though it's more like a dungeon than a prison. There's almost always at least one person down there. I'm...not really allowed in without permission from Mistress Carley, Mistress Angelica, or one of the other higher ups, so I'm not sure how many are there right now."
"Thanks, don't worry we'll find your card too." Felicia nods, ignoring the stinging pain on her arms as she's too happy about retrieving her deck. "As for Carley, I think we should regroup first. If she's the leader of this... cult, she might be more powerful than Dinah... meaning she could have a stronger kind of time freezing magic." She replied, looking back at Dinah. Felicia gives a description of the rest of their party. "Let's see, there's professor Itou, she has white hair... and is currently wearing a... revealing bodysuit. There's professor Meri, she's a bit... odd, but I think she knows more about this place than the rest of us. Then there's Adam, he seems to be close to professor Meri, and from the conversations they had on the way here. I think he's also connected to spirits." The red-head spoke, giving her honest impressions of the others, hoping it would give Dinah a better chance of finding them. "You don't have to teleport us then, just get their location. Then we can walk." Felicia replied, figuring they might need her magic for later.
"Well, if it's not the place we're allowed in, I'm going to guess that's exactly where we should go." Julia's mischievous smile had come back.
Adam snorts. "Mistress Carley?" He can't help but let a sharp chuckle push past his lips, before looking to his companions. "Sorry, I just figured the head of an evil cult would have a more imposing name." "Agreed. Even if we don't find Carley-" the young man sniggers, "-Anyone being held against their will here is a potential ally."
"I don't think Mistress Carley is more skilled with chronomancy than I am. She is specialized in umbramancy and spirit magic, from what I've seen her do." Dinah nods, closing her eyes as Felicia tells her about the others. Spoiler: Dinah's Magic Roll 31+10(Mage)=41 weak fail "I'm not getting anything." She shakes her head and opens her eyes. "Do they know how to prevent scrying?" She wonders aloud. "Well, they're on this floor, but I don't know any more than that." "Fine." Michio exits for the hallway, stepping past the door which bears heavy damage from her shoulder check. "Which room is Carley's?" Dinah looks to Felicia, asking quietly so she isn't overheard by the swordswoman. "Do I have your permission to tell her? I can't without you allowing it."
"Follow me, please." The woman, still a little unsteady on her feet, leads the other three through the mansion's halls. They take some odd routes occasionally, such as a winding, zigzagging path through a couple stretches of warmly lit corridor. "It's to avoid setting off the wards' alarms, so watch your step!" Adam's servant must know her former companions' routines since she has the group wait out of sight every so often for another cultist to pass. Eventually, they reach the basement. Coming down the landing, they see a door labeled "Vault" and another one opposite labeled "Cells." "Both these doors are warded, and I don't know a way around them. Do any of you know magic?" Their guide asks. Spoiler: Magical Resonance Rolls Adam 52=52 weak success Julia 41+10=51 weak success Both Adam and Julia can feel energy emanating from the doors, confirming the nun's words.
"Umbramancy?" Felicia pondered, Is that the one Uru mentioned, about having power of the night? She thinks to herself, expecting no reply from her spirits. "Alright, I suppose whatever that means is better than being frozen in time." She mumbled, nodding as Dinah asks for permission to inform Michio. "If they're on this floor, that means they should have the same idea as us. I doubt they'd be defeated by the other cultists." Felicia said, nodding as she figured they should deal with Carley now.
"Something like that." Julia kept up her mood despite still feeling somewhat drained spiritually, as she approached the door, placing her hands on it and attempting to channel. "Shouldn't be too complicated to do. It's pretty much the equalivent of smashing open a lock." "Though, I got to tell you. This is only my second time breaking a seal into a magically warded prison of spirit monsters."
"Literally, it means 'shadow divination.' She is skilled at manipulating light and darkness." Dinah smiles thinly before following Michio into the corridor. "Mistress' room is at the end of the hall. Follow me, please, unless you wish to set off the wards." The woman dressed as a nun, though her clothing has numerous tears and holes now, leads the students in a winding path. Michio is visibly frustrated by the route, but she remains in control of herself. Arriving at a set of double doors, Dinah stops the others. "I will need to disable the-" She interrupts herself. "Never mind. Someone else already has." Michio takes position at one of the portals. "Ready when you are, Felicia."
Taking note of the winding path they took, Felicia could only imagine what other traps this mansion has. "It's like those old video games where there's a bunch of traps in the final boss' castle." She mumbled out loud, just as they reached their destination. "Alright, let's do this." She nods at Michio, her tone regaining a bit of her fiery self. She moves to the other door, ready to push it open at the same time, "Let's go!" She exclaimed as a signal, using a bit more force than necessary to open the door.
@Tjf Yumi stifles a laugh and the pseudo-nun steps out of Julia's way. Spoiler: Spell Roll 66+10-10(Difficulty)-10(Tired)=56 weak success Placing her palm on the solid wood and concentrating, the professor is able to allow herself access through the ward, but she can only grant entry to one other person unless she wants every other cultist in the area descending upon the four of them.
Julia had to weigh on it carefully. Adam had done a good enough job of keeping Yumi safe, but Julia was starting to strain her abilities having used them so much....but she probably could still pull out a win, but it would be more difficult if worn down by massive amounts of the cult members. Making her decision, she gave Adam and Yumi a look. "I can't get everyone through, so I'm going to move ahead." She gave a assuring nod to Adam. "You kept Yumi safe. Just do it for a little longer. Maybe try to find an emergency exit in the meantime. I think, we're going to need one." She knew the two would likely protest, so she just pushed open to move past them, ushering out a quick goodbye. "Sorry for cutting you out of the fun, I'll make it up to you later!" She kept her voice in good cheer as the door closed, not giving them time to react so she could be stopped.
As they smash the paired doors open, a luxurious common room is revealed. Spoiler: Carley Common Room A woman in a white, pseudo-religious dress sits, legs crossed, on a couch facing them. "You took a little longer to reach me than I expected." Her lips curl upwards in a wry smile. "It's rude to leave a lady waiting." Spoiler: Carley Michio roars, beginning to run at the woman, but, with a hand gesture from Carley, the room becomes pitch black. "Come now, patience is a virtue, Squire." Carley's smug voice comes from behind them. "Or did leaving your friend to my servant's clutches yesterday not teach you that? Speaking of your friend..." A bright spotlight shines on her from the ceiling, but no fixture projects it. "...I see you found your soul already, Tyrant. Did you-Oh my..." The woman laughs uproariously. "Did you abandon yourself already? Only a day later and you're cheating on him with an Insect!"
[Julia's going alone, then?] As she rushes through the doorway, Julia finds a metal door, though it sits open. Spoiler: Dungeon (ignore the bones please) Before she has a chance to look into any of the cells, the professor spies a woman she recognizes as Angelica Neumann sitting at the wooden table, facing away from her.
