Kira waits to see what effect Mulluq's channel has, and then moves into attack one of the stronger remaining zombies.
The zombies quail as Mulluq bathes them in the purifying light of Iomedae. Jod and Wendaug both pepper them arrows and Booam strikes one down with his axe.
Sol conjures a wall, cutting Booam off from sight. Kira moves up and another zombie falls.
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Moving with an eager energy, Ghroth passes behind Mulluq and leaps forward to slap at the zombie against the wall.
...
Hannik follows her interplanar companion into the roomand flattens out against the wall to the right before loosing a crossbow bolt at Ghroth's opponent.
...
Kaygan moves until he gets a view through the door, past Mulluq to the nearest zombie. He whips up his magic missile wand and sends three magic bolts past the holy teifling's head.
Rhok wades into the fray, swinging his heavy mace.
...
Kaygan blasts down one zombie with his wand. Between them Ghroth, Rhok and Hannik bring down the last zombie on their side of the illusory wall. However, the two on the side with Booam shuffle up to attack.
Booam is not terribly concerned about the fact that he's outnumbered two-to-one, but the sudden appearance of a wall cutting him off from his squad unsettles him a bit. First, deal with the zombies.
Jod drops his bow next to Wendaug and hustles into the room, sliding the falchion from its sheath as he moves. Remembering Sol's remark about a fake wall, he notices the water in the fountain seems to be running through the wall instead of lapping against it. He says, "Booam, stay back from the new wall!" As he approaches, he swats high at the wall with his blade - well over Booam's head if he's on the other side - and when it offers no resistance, he closes his eyes for a moment and steps through. Seeing Booam's axe chop one of the zombies in two, Jod attempts to follow suit with the other, but the disorientation of stepping through the illusion throws off his attack and he misses badly.
Seeing Jod's action, Kira follows suit, taking in the scene beyond the wall to attack the remaining zombie.
Mulluq watches the other two step through the sudden wall, and just leans his face in before rushing into it. Seeing that one of the things remain, he pushes past Kira and Jod, leaving himself open to the zombie itself, just to get into sword's reach. Once there, he strikes out at the last of the things. He swings with just enough force and precision to make a serious dent in the thing.
The last two zombies fall.
Mulluq accepts the hit as a worthwhile cost to bring the thing down. He has looked worse for wear, but he is also visibly injured. He, of course, says nothing about his own injuries as he too looks over the others for who may need healing.
”Were they looking at something in the fountain? I mean, they were dead, but what were they doing in here?”
Mulluq sneers at the notion, the disgust evident in his expression, "Their reasons or lack of them are moot. They desecrate sites committed to honoring those that fought valiantly in the name of righteousness and holiness." The grip on his sword tightens in unvented anger at the affront.
Jod rolls his eyes at Mulluq's speech - when the paladin's not looking.
He moves over to the fountain and studies it, trying to determine if there was a reason to post six guards around it.
Thinking better of searching through the guts in the font, Jod peers up the stairs. Is there a door? Is there any noise on the other side if there is?
Mulluq looks out into the hallway, as Jod peers up the stairs, checking to see if there were still any doors or rooms they have left to clear. "We should secure this level, make certain there are neither enemies nor prisoners, before we go further up."
Jod tests the area where the wounds had been. "Thanks, Sol, that feels much better."
He nods at the wisdom of the tiefling's suggestion, but offers, "It would be nice to know that whatever's up there stays up there while we look elsewhere, but we don't want to leave someone on watch to be overwhelmed, either."
Thinking better of searching through the guts in the font, Jod peers up the stairs. Is there a door? Is there any noise on the other side if there is?
[dice=Perception]1d20 + 9
Jod sticks his head round the corner of the stairs. He can see there is no door at the end, though he can make out little of the room beyond. He can also hear some heavy breathing.
Jod steps back from the stairs and shares with the others that he could hear breathing. "Can't assume it's another demon, but I think a prisoner would have called out for help by now. Do we have a way of securing the stairs while we check the other rooms?"
Mulluq seems confused by the concern over what lies atop the stairs. "I would imagine that whatever kept it up there while we fought the zombies, or while the door was closed when we fought most of this floor's inhabitants in the hallway, will continue to do so while we secure what is left down here. We step out, close the door, secure the floor, then return to the stairs. We will not be far from them to see if something should decide to open the door on its own." With that, he nods his thanks to Sol for the healing, and makes for the single door to the east, waiting for everyone to ready themselves before he opens it.
Kira nods at Mulluq's suggestion, and readies her sword next to him.
Jod shrugs and follows. As he moves, he sheathes the falchion and readies the bow once more.
The adventurers perform a sweep the floor, but they find no enemies.
Bookshelves line the walls of this small library. Many of the tomes have been torn to shreds, and smoldering piles of ashes fill the room with an acrid stench. One small stack of books on a circular table seem to have escaped destruction.
Several stacked horizontal shelves hold a number of small, straw-lined bird cages. A stack of parchment, three quills, a pot of ink, and a pile of tiny cylindrical objects cover a nearby table, while a small wooden door is in one corner of the room.
Six cots sit in two orderly rows in this room. The bedding has been tossed on the ground, and an iron lockbox lies on its side, empty. A lidless box holds scraps of moldering food, while a pair of large barrels nearby look to be filled with water.
Jod shows little interest in the books, but the next room catches his eye. He considers the bird cages before moving over to the items on the nearby table. He turns to Wendaug and Booam, who watch him quizzically, "Our shaman would sometimes cast a spell on an animal and send it to retrieve one of our hunters. I don't know how it worked, but I wonder if the cages held birds for similar purpose." With that thought in mind, he examines the tiny cylindrical objects to see if perhaps they might be fastened to the leg of a bird.
Jod's hunch about using birds to carry messages would appear to be apt from the things he has found, although any actual pigeons probably departed here long ago.
Sol examines the books. They seem to be mostly history texts, although one seems to be a volume addressing fighting techniques.
Kira examines the books and scrolls for anything of use.
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Kaygan comes in a also goes through the books.
After a few moments, he lifts a reddish leather bound tome.
"This is a Manual of War. Fighting tricks and techniques are inscribed, but the book magically enables the fighter to embody those techniques."
Price 7,500 gp; Aura moderate enchantment; CL 10th; Weight 2 lbs.
Bound in bloodstained leather, this heavy tome is scarred like the flesh of a seasoned warrior and contains many generations of martial knowledge. Once per day, after studying the manual for 1 hour, a fighter may exchange one of her fighter bonus feats for another combat feat. She must meet the prerequisites for this new feat and she cannot alter a feat she is using as a prerequisite for another feat, prestige class, or other ability. This change persists for 24 hours, after which time the fighter's feats return to normal. The fighter may spend 10 minutes studying the manual to end its effects early.
”What do you guys make of this tiny door?”
Sol's comment doesn't make any sense to Jod, but he figures everyone else knows what he's talking about, so the ranger just nods to look like he understands. He hopes.
Moving to the door of the last room , he asks whoever might be looking it over, "So... anything interesting in this room? Looks like a small barracks, maybe for the six zombies when they were still men?"
"It's obviously for the pigeons who lived in the cages. I'm surprised we haven't found their little bodies with the heads bitten off in some kind of Black Sabbath ritual."
"True." He joins in what he expects will be a perfunctory search of the room, but finds himself taking more time than the room probably deserves out of habit more than anything.
Jod finds there is nothing in here beyond the detritus of the cultists.
Mulluq moves along with the others to check out each of the remaining rooms, pushing out his senses to find the presence of evil in any of them. Once they have cleared all the previous, he renews his push, extending the ability to find evil in front of him as he makes his way up the stairs, ideally as the first potential target for whatever the thing above may be.