Rhonna: The Chapel, Round 01

As the group continued further into the goblin stronghold, Rhonna whispers a quick prayer to Sehanine. The goddess of the moon has always been kind and loving to her. When the town elders discovered and punished ther coven sisters, Rhonna was lucky enough to be protected by a wandering priestess of the moon goddess. The priestess spend months praying over her. Rhonna thought she was doomed to live a life of torment and guilt, but Sehanine gave her a new lease in life.

Gryffin suddenly taps her arm, a signal to get ready. The eladrin wizard silently motioned over the door, with Lloyd standing quietly in front. The mercenary and paladin readied their weapons as well. Rhonna could hear the voice of Guy chanting softly. Sehanine, mother of the stars, guide our group in this battle. Rhonna mutters a silent prayer herself. She knew that her simple prayer isn't as elaborate or powerful as the eldarin priest, but she feels comforted by the power of the moon goddess.

Lloyd looks over his friends and sees them ready. He quickly opens the door, revealing a large room of worship. Its walls are lit by hanging braziers, spewing red smoke. A black marble altar stone, its surface heaped with ashes and bone fragments, squats before a ten foot tall statue. The statue depicts a very pregnant but otherwise shapely naked woman who wields a kukri in each taloned hand and has a long reptilian tail, bird-like taloned feet, and the snarling head of a three-eyed jackal with a forked tongue.

Rhonna glances over the room and a familiar cold sensation crept into her stomach. The various ingredients on the altar are components of a demonic ritual. A ritual she and her coven sisters often made in the past. The bestial statue is one of the demons of hell, their former patron and source of power.

"Oh no." She whispers, shaking her head in fear. "Not again."

Inside the room are three infernal hounds growling furiously. Somehow they sensed the group scent and had warned the other occupants of intruders.

Tsuto stands over the demon wolves, like a ravaging warrior out on a hunt.

“Well! Well! Who do we have here?” the half elf laughs.

“Come to rescue your friend Jarek I presume. Well you’re a little bit late. He’s already with Nualia which means he’ll be ours soon if not already so.”

Rhonna shakes her head in shock. Tsuto! Poor innocent Tsuto. The boy who had a crush on her many years ago. He was quite smitten with Rhonna back when she was with Nualia and her sisterhood. The young half-elf had strong feelings for Rhonna, bordering obsession. He kept stalking Rhonna and her sisters, following them wherever they went, sending her love letters every day. Rhonna could not believe the news that Tsuto killed his own father. She knew the boy had a tough childhood. She even begged Nualia to spare the lad from their curses. Nualia didn't care much for Tsuto back then, considering him to be a useless pest. Come to think of it, Rhonna was the only one who tried to reach out and be friends with Tsuto. She hoped to change the boy and protect him from further abuse. But Tsuto was already broken and wounded.

“But we can’t be having you here disrupting our plans of revenge, could we?” He draws out his short bow and releases a couple of arrows towards Lloyd. Rhonna thought of running towards Lloyd, hoping to protect the warlord from Tsuto's assault. She draws out her ceremonial dagger, trying to channel the power of the mantis constellation when she heard some else casting a spell inside the room.

"A wizard!" Rhonna shouts as soon as she catches a glimpse of anoother person inside the chapel.

The woman is in her early twenties, with dark skin and long hair braided tightly into cornrows. Rhonna feels the arcane power surging through the woman's hands, with the arcane runes of the chapel augmenting her magic. The woman waves her hand and a powerful force threw Lloyd into the air, slamming him back into the door.

I have to help Lloyd! Rhonna mutters as she raises her dagger, pointing it over the wizard's direction. She closes her eyes, summoning the power of the mantis constellation. Rhonna feels the humming of a thousand insects as the star of the blue mantis showers her with its celestial might. A bright burst of light shoots out of Rhonna's hands, striking the woman's chest. Rhonna could feel the power of the mantis constellation flowing through her body, like a wave of hungry locusts devouring the flesh of the wizard.