The Demigodess and the Bard

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Lucky followed Curia to the station, uncharacteristically silent. He wasn't so confident in their anonymity. For one thing, while facts could change a hundred times, names tended to keep their shape with only a little mutation, and that was usually passing between regions where people spoke differently. It was possible their names would shift a bit in the retelling here, but not very likely, and not significantly. Hence why he picked up a new one. He paused only to examine the geas breaker. It was as big as a bookshelf and looked like it could hold a human with ease. The lithe assassin would fit in neatly. Presumably the geas would be broken up by something inside. He never fully understood machines and magic items, being more of a people person.

Regardless, he headed inside to hand in his report and ideally request of the major personally that she keep all of this quiet. Obviously assassins of this caliber didn't just randomly off people in their rooms; someone with money and power was behind it, and a lack of discretion now could spell disaster. He steadily made his way toward her office, going by memory, and approached her quickly once he found her. "Hey, Major," he said with a casual air, his unease well hidden. "Got those reports you wanted." Then he discreetly glanced around to see who was nearby and lowered his voice, his expression never changing but his tone suddenly serious. "Now do me a favor and hide them. We both know whoever sent an assassin like that to kill a couple of unknowns just to start a fight is rich enough to take no chances, and money is power. If you have to file them, just let it happen after this whole mess is finished."
 
"Very well, at least its unlikely xe would storm the police fortress for files."

The police major replied and took the reports.

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Curia, unable to shake the feeling of hostile intent emanating from the device. She went to where the interrogation was to take place, staying outside the room and looking through a window. Sergeant Irons had just placed the would be assassin into the device, it flashed briefly as it worked its magic, its hostile intent seemed to fade, had this all been her imagination?

As the arcane energies reached their climax she shivered slightly, the tingle of the intense energies washing over her resistance being like a mild shock. Afterwards it quickly quieted down and Sergeant Irons extracted the would be assassin from the device to begin interrogation.

Curia went to leave the station, feeling that it had just been her imagination, that device had been more intimidating than it had any right to be.

As she left her hands were still quaking slightly.
 
Once again Lucky proved unusually silent as they left, simply looking around and heading off in what seemed to be a random direction. He had a brooding look on his face, as if trying to piece everything together from just the few scraps they had and naturally coming up short. He only broke the silence when they arrived at a tavern, halfway across town from the inn they were staying at. Then he turned to Curia. "This is probably gonna come out wrong," he began uncomfortably, "but I'm gonna need you to stay out here for this one. Last time we were in a bar you got drunk and arm wrestled a bulky adventurer way more easily than a girl your size should be able to, and I'm trying not to draw attention."

At first the notion that he wanted to avoid attention seemed silly. With his mismatched ears, his unusual hair color and the variety of knick-knacks he wore he was easily recognizable. But then there was something so... normal about him. Maybe it was the way he carried himself, or some subtle bardic trick, but it didn't feel like magic; Curia's resistance didn't affect it, at least. At the brief glance he was likely to get on entering the tavern he could probably come across as just some guy coming in for a drink. Even the staff just looked like something a traveler would naturally carry, weathered and crooked but sturdy-looking.

"It could take a while to get the information I need," he continued, "so don't wait up. We'll meet back at the inn at four o'clock, okay?"
 
Curia met up with Lucky and followed him back to the tavern, her hand trembled slightly as she thought about the day. She felt hot and inexplicably anxious in a way the sun shining overhead couldn't quite explain. It wasn't normal and seemed just a hair familiar, but she couldn't quite remember what it was.

Lucky asked for her to stay out of the tavern this time, she nodded because he made a good point. She also didn't feel like much noise now, her brow furrowed as she strained to remember just what this feeling was. Then she remembered, it was The Power why was it so eager to come out now of all times?

Since she figured the strange anxiety of this day must have something to do with it, she made her way to the nearest empty alleyway, she really needed to get some privacy and calm down. So she stood up to a wall and meditated as best she could, she seemed asleep to the untrained eye as she stood there and focused.

Something was wrong with her, the power should not come out easily from a bit of stress, she focused and searched within her, finishing the cause to be slippery and uncertain. As she continued to meditate and finding the fault to evade her continually she gradually shook, partly from intense focus and partly from frustration.

Her focus was interrupted by a faint cry for help in the distance.

Something to break up this frustrating task, at least for a little while! Curias eyes snapped open and she moved to the source with a purpose.

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He was done for, he'd failed to uncover this mystery and they were onto him, he'd almost not seen it coming and had just had time to shout out before a silent lightning bolt struck him. He collapsed in a numb heap as the assailant approached to finish him off, only for the strangest thing to happen.

His death didn't come, there was a feeling of great pressure bearing down on him, an unbearable intensity of intent, the assailants fist of stone made a rather pathetic sound, like someone lightly patting a pillow. He dared to open his eyes, and saw the perfect warrior, a figure taller than most, with pronounced muscles and a calculatingly angry demeanor. Her presence and fighting prowess practically screamed out like a beacon, brighter than even the cobalt flames emitted by her body.

He was safe, Heron had sent him an angel of wrath! The man finally lost consciousness.

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Curia knew intellectually that this was a bad idea, however in the heat of the moment she had rushed out to stop this murder, frustration and anger manifesting itself. She seemed larger, but one couldn't tell consistently how large she was, just that her intensity made her as an enraged titan.

She intercepted the wall-cracking punch with ease, the attack failed to even budge her in this state and before the assailant could recover xir wits she had already snatched xir hands and crushed them. The assailant briefly screamed before being immediately silenced by a bear hug, cobalt flames slowly burned xir, though xe managed to with great effort concentrate enough to blink away a short distance.

But it was not to be, as the unstoppable cobalt warrior slowly shrank in presence and the flames subdued, however this did not stop her from pouncing on the assailant, so quickly a thunderclap rang out, cracking nearby windows. Before xe could even begin to muster power it was too late. She effortlessly knocked xir out.

Curia calmed down, feeling like enchanted ice was in her gut, she tended to the two people as best she could, but that had been stupid. There were sounds of commotion, and when various people arrived they found her having crudely bandaged the two peoples wounds by tearing parts of their clothing for material while talking to herself.

"Please be well, please be well! PLEASE BE WELL!!"
 
The hunt for information was going well. Lucky had struck gold - he had offered someone a chance to vent, and two others had joined the discussion. Their commiseration (and occasional argument) about what exactly was wrong with the city was more useful than any single perspective. He was halfway through hearing about some groundless firings when it happened: A sudden, loud crash like thunder. He didn't have to be a druid to know that there was no chance of a storm right now. That could mean a lot of things... but practically, it could only mean one thing. He leapt from his chair without explanation, grabbed his staff and charged out of the tavern, following the shocked stares of people in the street.

By the time he got there a small crowd was forming, with the promise of more to come. That was bad. In the alley the noise had come from was Curia along with two unconscious people, one of them an orc in what looked like clerical vestments and the other bald dwarf in a long coat over leather armor with a broken dorje nearby. That was worse. Curia herself was kneeling over the dwarf and was tearing up the coat to bind what looked like bad injuries, and with the blood on her hands he knew a lot of people wouldn't be looking at the bandages. That was catastrophic.

Immediately he stepped forward, speaking in a loud, carrying voice. "It's a good thing you were here," he said, "these injuries look bad. You've done a good job bandaging them up." Actually it was pretty sloppy, but she was working with strips torn from a coat and clearly in a hurry. "You'd best back up so I can see that they're healed." He gave her a meaningful look and then knelt down by the dwarf, who looked worse off. He began chanting that soothing, song-like spell of healing. He wove in a small cantrip as well to evoke a comforting, blue glow around his hands and the dwarf's form. People might not know what he was doing, but it was the kind of color associated with health in this part of the world. They'd assume healing. Hopefully.
 
Curia kept trembling even as Lucky gave her the look, her face was pale as she stood up and at last looked at the crowd. Being confronted by a crowd in this emotionally uncontrolled state made her briefly freeze in dismay. Her face almost looked like that of a fish on land, after this brief instant her feelings finally resolved themselves. She started shivering and coughing lightly before lighting up with a cobalt aura.

"S-sorry everyone, th-this wasn't what I wanted!"

Her voice sounded almost like a blaze and a baritone singer competing to be heard, the crowd backed off in a mix of confusion, awe and fear. Both of the wounded people in the alley stirred after being stabilized, the Dwarf was missing both of his hands and was struggling to get up while the orc took somewhat longer to come to.

The dwarf looked somewhat calculatedly around him before looking at the ground, the orc after having come to stood up slowly and focused on Curia. Faint murmurs spread out among the crowd as they recognized him as Bishop Arkifaire of this regions Heronian worship. As that happened the sound of police bells could be heard as officers moved through the crowd. The officers ended up right in front of one glowing, unstable looking Curia with the bishop and two unknown persons behind her.

"Good to see you officers, this day Heron himself saved me from an assailant through his angel of wrath! Look at her, the perfect warrior and take her as a sign of the uncovering of evil to come!"

The confrontation was prevented from escalating by the bishop who had managed to gain the crowds attention and that of the officers. He would proceed to hold a speech extolling the greatness of Curia right there, Curia was clearly somewhat confused, her fear giving way to embarrassment.

Meanwhile the dwarf attempted to cast silent invisibility and make his escape.
 
A crowd staring in shock and fear. Curia's voice like divine thunder. A priest now preaching her as a divine angel sent by Heron to root out evil in the city. Ironically the truth would only stoke that particular fire. All in all, Lucky decided, this had the potential to explode in a big way. He bit his lip, trying to think of a way out of this besides just running or flying away. Could he try and calm them? No, not without directly contradicting the priest, which at this point would only push him further into the spotlight. Maybe some kind of creative illusion to discredit the claim? Possibly, but that might cause more harm than good. They wouldn't just forget the cobalt aura or the voice she spoke with. Hm... What if he used a bag of holding, a lightning spell and a handful of marbles to-

At that point he spotted, from the corner of his eye, the dwarf assassin trying to gesture silently with his arms in what looked like a spell. For a moment Lucky was alarmed, but apparently the spell broke down almost immediately thanks to his hands being on the ground a few feet away. That having failed he apparently decided to just make a run for it. Without turning Lucky extended his staff and hooked the crooked tip around the dwarf's ankle, tripping him to the ground. "Don't even think about it," he remarked distractedly... then realized that people were watching and would certainly draw their own conclusions from that. Dammit! There went his last chance to fade into the background.

Lucky's eyes darted across the crowd, to the priest, to Curia standing next to him, and in that moment he made a decision. This was definitely going to explode, but he still had a chance to shape that charge. Under his breath, so only Curia could hear him over the crowd and the priest, he mumbled "I sincerely apologize for what I'm about to do." Then, without further explanation, he put on his own (very well polished) stage smile and stepped up next to the priest. "It goes a step further!" He proclaimed grandly, inserting himself into a pause in the impromptu sermon. "For she is more than an angel of Heron. You all know as well as any that the gods have long been silent, but it is not from apathy, oh no! Still they care deeply for this world, but the barriers have been sealed for many years. But lo! For they have begun once more to open, and first among the gods Heron has sent his envoy to this plane.

"Good people of Nincaneh, I give you none other than Curia Hearthbell, Daughter of Heron!"
 
As far as Curia was concerned right now was the most surreal thing she had ever experienced, going from snapping a persons hands off to being celebrated as an angel only a few minutes later, it seemed implausible beyond all belief yet here she was. And then Lucien joined the fray turning this into some farce of a sermon duo.

And it was working, somehow, Curia could hardly believe her own eyes when the crowd was held rapt. Curia managed in all of this to keep her face mostly blank, but it was hard, something within her was still undermining her discipline and unless that was dealt with this could only end in tears.

The crowd, including the officers started cheering for her and many wild cries of devotion were heard.

"Clean out the rot!"
"Make Nincaneh great again!"
"Strength in honesty, diligence in valor!"
"The truth is before us, Heron rules!"

On one hand this meant they would get support in their endeavors, on the other hand all hope of doing this discreetly without alerting every lurking villain had just been completely destroyed. What was unambiguously terrible as far as Curia was concerned is that sh was now going to be the near-constant center of attention with a million expectations fostered upon her.

Through all this Curias aura gradually subsided though she retained an immense presence and some of the larger build of her full power. She really couldn't go full power again, it would be terrible for her self control and by side-effect the city. Soon enough she ended up going on an impromptu parade with Lucky, the bishop and many many others, headed for the Heronian Fortress-Monastery in Nincaneh.

It would be quite obvious to those close to her and good at body language that she wasn't entirely happy about this.

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Veteran battle brother Kaireh had just finished his weapon drill with the newest acolytes when he heard the commotion, strange because there usually isn't this much commotion this time of year. When he opened the doors to see outside he was confronted with an entire parade with the bishop leading a strange woman he had never seen before. His heart leapt in his chest, her fighting power was the strongest he had ever seen with is elven eyes!

This would require explaining, and likely testing, he felt eager to test his adamantine blade against her.

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The false priest was dismayed, things were not going according to plan. This called for an escape so he could not be tracked down and the conspiracy exposed, the distraction of the parade was a good chance to get out. He was going to head out when an acolyte ran up to him, panting for air.

"A council is called on this new possible demigod in the city. The bishop desires your presence there."

"But of course."

The false priest replied slickly, he still had to keep up the act even if it delayed him after all.
 
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