Spoiler: Medical Roll D100: 4 (Crit fail) Heading to Gamba, she tries to help him, but when she rolls him onto his back, something goes wrong internally, and blood comes from his mouth. Looking at her, she sees the light leave his eyes as he dies. (Wow, this was bloody) The men help her to her feet. "It's not your fault, it's Xenephon's. We're with you all the way."
"My price?" Iona smirks. "When I do my work, there tend to be many... opportunities... for one to enrich herself. Don't get in my way during those moments, and let me have a cut. That's all I ask."
She gave them a weak but grateful smile "Thank you. Please, take whatever time you think is necessary to recover and then let us depart." Concerned over her abysmal failure with Commander Gamba, she waited patiently alone for the men to recover, before they set out for the temple.
"Money then? Very well, as long as it doesn't affect my reputation, or any of my plans. You can enrich yourself however you want." Vizelle replied, "Is that all?" She asked, and if Iona doesn't require any physical convincing, the sorceress leads her to meet her fellow disciples. Or those in her base anyway.
She finds several hundred troops outside in parade order. When she's explained the situation, they're fired up to go, marching across the city. Reaching the the temple, Yannika sees hundreds of black robed figures out in front of it.
The disciples are mostly dismissive of the newcomer because of her lack of psionic abilities, but all introduce themselves nonetheless. "You have your own cult?" Iona whispers, confused by the way the disciples treat their mistress.
"Cult? No, they merely follow me because I can provide what they want." Vizelle whispered back, before addressing her disciples. "Now then, this is Iona. Yes, she does not posses any psionics. But that will be a benefit for us. Do play nice, I'm sure you can all help each other one way or another." She said with a smile, "Jerryn, perhaps she can help you infiltrate, and investigate the gambling dens?" Vizelle then grins, looking at Iona as she mentions gambling.
Yannika was heartened to see so many men ready to stand with her, and such numbers made the events of just moments ago a modicum easier to bear. When they reached the temple, she stepped out in front of her assembled masses and addressed the robed figures. "I AM YANNIKA OF HOUSE WULFKIN. LADY OF THE HOLY MOTHER CHURCH, SWORN SISTER OF THE SECT OF THE SAPPHIRE HEARTH, AND ENVOY OF THE EMPEROR! I AM HERE ON HIS AUTHORITY TO MEET WITH SISTER BARRA AND IT IS ON THAT AUTHORITY THAT YOU SHALL LET ME PASS!"
Jerryn nods. "Good idea, mistress. Come with me." He leads Iona out to work on spying. On his way out the door, he says "I'll have a report for you when we come back, I just want to see if the new girl spots something I missed."
Spoiler: Persuasion Roll D100: 43+15 (Diplomacy Skill)+15 (Religious Skill)=73 (Pass) There's a silence in the square in front of the temple, before the crowd begins to part.
"Good. Play nice, and do not attempt to use telepathy to seduce her. There is something... dangerous locked deep within her mind." Vizelle said, telepathically warning her lustful disciple hold on using telepathy on her new underling. "Now then, does anyone have anything to report?" She asked, and if they didn't have anything important to give her. She heads to her private chambers to contact Varrick using the stone.
There are a chorus of shrugs from her people, before she heads into her office. Spoiler: Corruption Roll D100: 74 As she sits down and takes the sphere from her pocket, Vizelle admires it for a few moments. It's truly beautiful, and the way it ripples with psionic power is deeply compelling. How lucky she was to stumble on something like it. She doesn't think much more about it than that, and contacts Varrick. She finds herself back in the mind chamber, stone pillars all around her, the air warm and pleasant. "So, you have returned."
As Yannika advances, her small army follows along. When they do, a small cadre of hooded figures, maybe fifty, blocks her way, saying that she can go alone, but not with armed men.
Taking a deep breath as she admires the stone, Vizelle grins as she sees Varrick. "Indeed. After all, I've finished my business for the day. I'd like to know more about you." She cooed, "You seem to be working with the Northern Empire. Why is that?" She asked with a smirk.
"Their 'empire' means nothing to me. I discovered their agents, both in your side of the galaxy, and in theirs, and used them as pawns." He chuckles at the thought.
"Oh? So you merely stumbled upon them." Vizelle hummed, "And how is it that such a powerful psionic like you has remained hidden? That armor of yours is ancient, but human made. Yet it seems you don't "fit" inside of it." She grins, "So, you are either small... or different. Which is it?"
Yannika hesitated and looked back at her men. She had no idea what awaited her in the temple, how many people awaited inside, what possible dangers lurked there. She didn't want to go alone, but she also didn't wish for any more violence. She didn't want anyone else to die. But she doubted they would just let her perform an exorcism on a possessed woman. 'Is she even possessed though?' she thought to herself. Maybe the priestess hadn't really died. Maybe Xenephon had just performed some kind of spell. Maybe Barra really was divine... Her rational mind knew these couldn't be true. But so many had already died on suspicion and circumstantial evidence. She was sent here to investigate and she hadn't done any! Maybe there was a rational explanation for all of this after all! Delusional hope, but hope nonetheless. "Alright." she tells the lead figure. "I'll go alone. So long as you swear on your priestess, and the gods, that no harm will come to me, or anyone else here."
"Be careful, or I'll show you personally how well I fit." Varrick chuckles again. "I'm human, like you... Or perhaps not quite like you. I'm what you might call a holdout, from older days." Suddenly, the air above Vizelle erupts in images: Huge cities, colossal engines of war, ships that stretch on for miles and miles, a Republic that stretched across the stars, with gates capable of taking people across the galaxy in seconds, displays of psionic power capable of cracking entire planets, the glory of humanity's mostly forgotten past. "You can't conceive of what it was like to live in those days. We had evolved past hunger or sickness, our technology granted every human at bare minimum the powers of what would be a master psionic amongst your society." He turns to her. "We had a saying: 'Each man a king'. In reality, it was closer to 'each man a God'."
