Georges quirks a brow, furrowing his forehead in just a way to make his surfer-bum-blonde locks fall across his eyes. "Of course I knew there were some who only allow themselves to love when there is no chance of being loved back-- but I had thought, surely your wisdom and intelligence were such that you could not be among their number." Sad eyes glance longingly at Cygna, and he cups her cheek in his hand. "What beast of a man wounded you so, that you do not feel worthy of love?"
Adorjan's shade dances about the pair, a wicked smile on his face. "If only he knew how close he is to the truth!" he cackles, before bursting into raucous laughter.
Georges glances up and looks around warily. "Did you hear something?"
(Combat will have to wait a couple hours, til I get home from work.)
Oh, to answer your question-- No, it doesn't look like Leona. Leona's fur is pale gold and her wings snow-white, while this one is yellow furred and tawny feathered.
Cygna brushes her hand against his, feeling torn between her desire for him and to do what's right...and she swears she can feel her brand tingling. [color=red]"Please..."
Cygna looks directly at Adorjan. [color=red]"You can hear him?" she gasps. For a moment, she has hope. Never before has anyone been able to sense his presence...perhaps he is weak enough for her to finally affect him! She springs to her feet and sings Lay to Rest the Haunting Spirit.
((CT is 22, + Loud Voice 1 + Exaggerated Gestures 1 + die roll of 1 (followed by a die roll of 8, for a dice total of 16) = 40, vs. a Spell Level of 20 gives a Penetration of 20 + Penetration (Mentem) 2 = 22. This might actually hurt him! Maybe.))
Georges looks confused. "I thought I heard someone laughing, but it seemed somehow... unreal."
Cygna casts her spell successfully, but rather than look weakened, Adorjan seems strengthened-- more vivid, more real, somehow. The shade laughs harder.
Georges leaps to his feet, drawing his sword. He swings directly at the shade, but the blade passes through harmlessly. Adorjan blows a kiss to Cygna, and then vanishes from her sight.
Georges drops his weapon and grabs Cygna roughly, holding her close and stroking her hair. "You're safe, my lady. I shall not allow that ghost to hurt you. You're safe now..."
Cygna sobs for a long while in his arms, shocked, dismayed, frightened at what just happened.
What just happened? How did...Adorjan has never been that strong before, nobody's ever been able to hear him before, let alone see him. Why...? Then it hits her. She realizes what was different from all the other times. And she wonders if she is what's keeping him "alive," making him stronger. Wonders if he's feeding off of her anger, her lust, her envy.
She finally removes herself (somewhat reluctantly) from Georges's embrace, and thanks him before she turns and walks a pace or two away. She then sings a spontaneous Perdo Mentem to douse her lust for him. ((Perdo Mentem base 5, "Quell an emotion in a person." R: Personal, D: Sun +2, T: Individual, for a Target Level of 15; if she gets any beyond that, she will put it toward Duration. Pe 4 + Me 18 + Int 4 + die roll of 7 = 33 ÷ 2 = 17.)) [color=red] "♪♫ Let my spell extinguish my fire/That I may not be overcome by desire ♫♪ "
Cygna hears the familiar voice, this time feeling his breath on her ear. "Do you think playing mind games with yourself will work, child? Do you truly believe denying your urges hurts anyone but yourself?" Adorjan laughs delightedly. "Your little muggle loverboy is the only one who can see me... The only one who doesn't think you're crazy."
His form shimmers into view before her. "Surprised? You didn't really believe Hiems holds back because of his tramp, did you? Tsk tsk. You're ten times the wench she was, and Hiems knows it." His ghostly eyes appraise Cygna's hips and breasts. "No. He's simply too intelligent to get too close to a madwoman. But go ahead-- spurn your only chance at happiness... Then it'll be just you and me, again. As it should be. Just like you've always wanted."
[color=red]"No...he believes me. He knows that you're real, just as I do. He would not have stayed with me all those years at Phoenix, or come with me to Stonehenge, if he thought I were crazy. He would have stayed in Iberia, or returned to Clair de Lune, or gone somewhere else. I truly believe that he loves me, as I love him. But I don't want to hurt him, either."
She sighs. [color=red]"Why am I telling you all this? You already know, don't you? More than I, it seems. But you know I don't fear you...not anymore. Now, begone!"
She did hear what he said about Hiems's "tramp" but tried not to let him see the "ah-ha!" that she felt.
Cygna turns and returns to the other, half-looking for Georges on the way. If she sees him before the others, she will simply go up to him, say [color=red]"I'm sorry," see what his reaction is, then return. If not, she will sit near but not next to him.
Regardless, once she's with the others and near him, she will start singing again. Songs of true love or other songs.
"Does he, now? Are you so certain of that?" Adorjan laughs. "Why not ask him?" She feels him trace along a scar... pride. "Or do you fear the truth? That he came 'with you' because he had nowhere else to go? He cannot stand the defiled madwoman, but he had no other choice.
"I don't want you to fear me, little dove. On the contrary. I want you to fear nothing."
Adorjan does not begone, but stays near Cygna, staring at her unnervingly with a gleeful expression. He does vanish with an annoyed scowl when she approaches Georges.
As she apologizes, the look on his noble face is that of utter dejection and hopelessness.
Cygna is rattled by the whole exchange. She knows that the shade is wrong about Hiems, and yet fears that he may be right. And yet, what if she were insane, but Hiems would find that easier to handle than the truth about her, a truth that she had been afraid to tell him and had put off for years?
Cygna makes no more overture toward Georges beyond the above, but sits there lost in her own thoughts and fears.
When Cygna stops paying attention to Georges, Adorjan reappears and resumes taunting her. "Hiems is with Liliana right now. It's not that she's more beautiful than you... which she is... It's that she's stronger than you. More confident. Not afraid of her nature. I would leave you for her myself... But she doesn't need me like you do. She's complete; you, however, will never be strong without my guidance, never achieve your full potential without my aid."
Georges turns toward the shade and shouts, "Leave the woman alone, for Christ's sake!"
Adorjan vanishes, but Focus turns towards his serjeant. "Leave who alone? I haven't laid a finger on our guest-- unlike you," he says with a frown.
Both arrows aimed at Georges, he catches on his shield. One of the arrows at Focus flies wide, the second glances off his chainmail harmlessly.
Cygna did get her Doublet of Impenetrable Silk, which mitigates the arrow's 11 points of advantage + 6 damage down to only a Medium Wound. (Also, my apologies-- the bandits are on init 11, not 13.)
[color=red]"He's done nothing wrong!" Cygna snaps, then returns to her moping.
Um...ow. I guess 5e doesn't have All-Out Defence, but that's basically what she's going to try to do: keep from getting hit, since none of them are
((Cygna has, like, no combat-type spells, and only a 1 Brawl. If she were to try to spont a PeMe, looking at the Level 4 guideline, "Diminish a single mental capability in a person," would knowing how to fight fall under that, or should I keep looking?))
facepalm totally forget Cygna has Animal Ken...time to go into Fluttershy mode. Who are you? she asks in...griffin?
Georges pulls Cygna off her horse and interposes himself, such that he can cover her exposed side with his shield.
Focus casts two of what Cygna recognizes as a Perdo Vim spell, and the "beast" hisses in anger and pain.
As she concentrates on communicating with the creature, she realizes that it is not a beast-- and most certainly not a Bjornaer (I'm gonna say that Animal Ken works with heartbeasts).
Georges cuts down one of the archers. As the four release another volley of arrows, thanks to Georges' shield, no one gets struck.
The winged creature looks at Focus with fear and hatred in its eyes, before turning tail and running.
(At which point we can pretty much drop combat, since the bandits disperse without their leader.)
"Foul bandits, mademoiselle," Georges replies. He pulls some clean bandages from a saddlebag and begins to bind Cygna's wound.
"Not bandits, serjeant," Focus declares grimly. "Georges' ignorance is understandable, but I would have expected a Hermetic maga to recognize when she uses magic within a Faerie aura."
[color=red]"Actually, I was referring to the griffin. It wasn't a beast, and your Perdo Vim infuriated it, if nothing else. Have you dealt with it before?"
((ah...got it. in that case, she most likely would have said "winged lion" and not "griffin"...unless the pain from the arrow wound is messing her up.))
Focus looked at Cygna as though she were the stupidest person he'd ever met; she knows she's not getting any further answer from him, as she's testing the limits of his patience.
Reviewing their exchange, Cygna realizes that Focus had been saying that the attackers (including the lead "bandit" who turned into a winged lion) were faeries.