DM Papa.DRB - Darklands (solo) (Inactive)

Game Master Papa-DRB

You arrived in the city of Bildt on the island of Aegos seven days ago. After purchasing supplies, especially a cold weather outfit, getting directions to Rybalka, and hiring someone to ferry you across The Broken Bay, you set out five days ago for the small village, and the annual Vigil of Light ceremony where the moonshard was brought out and the light was displayed on the longest night of the year. It has been cold, snow has fallen occasionally on your journey, and you had to push the last day to ensure that you arrived at Rybalka before the ceremony would start after dark on Kuthona 22nd, which is the Winter Solstice.

As you approach the village you make your way down the street, you realize that the expected murmur of activity is missing and that the settlement of Rybalka seem ominously quiet and cold. Then rounding a building, you spot a group of villagers carrying torches towards the large stone cathedral on the edge of town. Following them, you see they rap on the doors, which are opened for a brief moment, allowing a sound of voices to escape along with some light and heat, causing the air to steam. The interior of the building is bathed in warm, inviting reds and oranges, sharply contrasting the cold whites and blues of the snow and ice surrounding you in the darkness outside.

You suddenly feel quite vulnerable standing out here all alone. The last of the villagers round the bend and pass by you, heading for the cathedral.

"You coming!?" one of the women calls, her voice suggesting that any other choice would be madness.

"...Yes, I suppose so." Merfina answered after taking a few moments to consider her options. She quietly hitched up her clothes a bit to make it easier to trudge through the snow, her face betraying little of her emotions. She wasn't yet sure what was going on here, but perhaps she would have an opportunity to find out... and her predilection for performances might be more valuable than she'd thought. "Has something happened?"

Picture of Moonshard

She did agree to come along. XD

Merfina followed, appreciating the warmth of the inside of the building. It wasn't like she disliked the outdoors and the natural world, but... well, people weren't made for temperatures that were too extreme. Besides, she was interested in this object.

Know (Local? What do I know about the Moonshard): 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (16) + 12 = 28

About 10 feet inside the doors of the building, by an open pair of finely-carved wooden swing-gates representing the rising sun, an imposing man greets each villager with a personal message or a reassuring and guiding hand on the shoulder. You hear words such as, “evenin’ mayor,” or “the Light be with you, Igor,” as you get closer. He looks at you with a warmth not usually associated with such portentous meetings, and says, “well met, friend. For we are all friends tonight. Find a place to sit and enjoy the service. The day’s dawn will herald new events for all of us. Yuri! Some seats for my compatriot!” At this final call, a man looks up from halfway down the cathedral and beckons you forward. A place is found for you and those around you offer greetings and ask your name. Their welcome is genuine and heartfelt, reflecting that the coming service is a period of warmth and rebirth.

The moonshard is a sliver of mysterious rock that at the precise moment that the longest night of the year ends and the days begin to get lighter, it glows with a soft, gray light. This sounds odd, as light can't be gray, but those that have seen the effect agree; the color being shed by the moonshard during this period is gray, as if daylight and darkness (which usually are sharply delineated as shadow-line) are pulled together within the artifact.

Next?
Cathedral Map Created / Updated

Merfina quietly shook hands with those who came to introduce themselves, introducing herself a number of times (rather quietly, of course... her voice tended to get naturally melodic if she was too loud - one of the many effects of her musetouched heritage - and she tried to avoid that when she wasn't performing). The shard interested her - it seemed to have been here for quite a long time, so it probably wasn't dangerous... and heavenly heritage aside, she knew that things weren't always as simple as light and dark. Although given her choice of clothing, maybe she had no right to talk about that...

As she took a seat, though, she began to sing quietly - a warm song, to help put people further at ease and celebrate their festival of rebirth. It was something of a habit of hers, really - when time was passing and she had little else to do, she often called upon her heritage to make the wait more pleasant. She'd stop the moment continuing to sing would be inappropriate, of course.

Perform (Sing): 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (12) + 12 = 24

While the exterior of the cathedral is gray stone, the interior is built of the lustered wood from local trees, as are the simple benches which serve as pews and line the hall on both sides from front to back. A large, crackling fire on a raised plinth burns brightly, bathing the weathered and wrinkled faces of the villagers in an otherworldly, surreal, flickering orange glow. "The fire is never allowed to die," says one of the villagers standing to your side. "The crackling? ‘Tis said to be the spirits of warriors long since passed from this world. They talk to us, not to warn us or teach us, but to bathe us in their glory so that we might remember the sacrifices those that came before us made for their children and grandchildren. War is never an easy affair, and those who fight are swept up and away, sometimes lost in the minds of kings and queens. Here, on civilization’s edge, we remember those that brought light to our lives, and to this day they give us vision, warmth, and shelter. Juriendor has shown us such things; soon he’ll arrive to share more wisdom."

Please give me a Gather Information (Diplomacy) check, then I will continue with the "conversations".

Diplomacy (Gather Info): 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (19) + 11 = 30

It does tend to roll highs and lows in sequences. XD

Merfina nodded as the locals explained their customs to her. She didn't share them, of course - but that didn't make the local beliefs wrong, in much the same way a man could work in a mine without invalidating the farm his neighbor ran. Coexistence was better, and the locals' apparently welcoming attitude towards other deities was quite refreshing. "How long has he been the high priest?" she inquired curiously.

"He came to us as a young acolyte, about six years ago, and now he is high priest" responds the young man sitting next to you on the left, with pride in his voice. Around you, you hear folks whispering "coming darkness" and "Vigil of Light".

The place suddenly goes quiet as a young acolyte appears descending a staircase near the front gates(back of the building, the "up" stair case). He walks through the crowd toward the flaming altar and the people turn to face him, their smiles broad. As they do so, they twist away from the light of the fire and their faces become darkened. Then Juriendor appears on the stairway, moving toward the front of the room, his face lit up, as the gaze of the congregation follows him, the individual faces become equally illuminated. The High Priest is dressed in celestial platemail armor, its legendary sheen there for all to see. One of the townsfolk calls out, "guide us through the Darkness so that there may be Light!” Others begin to shout phrases such as, "Juriendor, please guide us!" and, "protect us from the Dark Wood devils! Bestow us with Light!"

Do you do anything here, or let the Juriendor proceed down the man aisle to the altar at the front?

Merfina kept a respectful silence as the Juriendor proceeded - she was not part of their group, and didn't feel comfortable asking someone else for blessings. She had her own way of connecting with the holy realms, and was really only here because she was curious about the festival and wanted to observe it. Keeping quiet tended to be the best way of avoiding giving offense to everyone... although she did glance curiously around the rest of the room, including the places the Juriendor had already passed, to see what that was like.

Once at the front of the cathedral, Juriendor pulls a long wooden torch from the wall and lights it from the large brazier at the center and end of the hall. It momentarily glows as brightly as if daylight had been cast, and everyone within the hall instantly appears warm and comforted. The High Priest chants a prayer, and all of the villagers join him. It sounds complex, a drone of intertwining ideas that seem more suited to a shaman than a clergyman. After long minutes have passed, the chant fades and the silence hangs heavy in the air. Then Juriendor pulls a small wooden box from within his robes. The box is finely carved and looks quite old and worn. As he slowly lifts the lid, something dark gray begins to shine with a crisp starlight, followed by a pulsing blue-yellow glow which envelopes his face. Children in the crowd to gasp and call out, "the moonshard!", they’re quickly hushed as the high priest carefully raises a small glowing stone shard from the box, holding it high for all to see. He begins to call out words you cannot understand, their power growing, and with each one the brightness of the light increases. Juriendor’s appearance and walk up the aisle has allowed villagers to move into it, and some now sit cross-legged on the floor, there is also more space now for those who are standing around the sides and towards the back of the cathedral.

Suddenly, almost as if part of the ritual, the doors to the cathedral burst open and the ceremonial gates rattle wildly in the blast. Two men, weapons on their backs and dressed in battered armor, stagger into the room, each carrying a badly injured individual. "Help us, please! Help us now! We require healing and our friends are at Death's door! The evils of the Dark Woods are too many, too foul. Another ally outside is turned to stone, yet I dare say that no one within these walls would fancy to face what lurks without!"

PICTURE of Moonshard

Mefore the men had finished their second sentence, Merfina was out of her seat and moving down the aisle. As she arrived, she reached out and sent a pulse of healing into each of the wounded ones. That ought to be enough to ensure they'd live as long as they got proper treatment.

Spending two Spell Points to help them.
Healing 1: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (4) + 1 = 5
Healing 2: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (7) + 1 = 8

Fortunately, she still had her armor on from her travels... and she reached into the air. As she did, a hilt appeared as if from nowhere - and as she drew it out, a greatsword appeared from the air, summoned by her command. She might have been a lady... but that didn't mean she had no way of defending herself.

"Everybody! Remain calm." she called. "The light has not abandoned you. Where are these intruders?" That last bit was directed to the healthier men. There would be no deaths here today if there was anything she could do about it.

Once there, and see that you had healed the two worst wounded, Juriendor calls upon his god to heal all the men, and he raises his arms in supplication and the rest of the wounds are healed.

"Thank you for your help with those men." Then as he sees your sword appear, he continues, both to you and men that just came into the Cathedral, "To be safe from the Darkness, all of you, please remain inside the cathedral. At this hour, dangers abound outside. We can speak later once the moonshard has given us its dawn." He has several of the townsfolk help the men to the back wall where they can drop their gear and at least sit on the floor, as the rest of the cathedral is full. He also instructs them to close the Cathedral doors back up.

One of the men, just before heading to the wall, speaks quickly to you. "We were exploring the devil woods north of town and were attacked by things better left unsaid. We came back here as quick as we could." and he moves to the wall, drops his gear and settles in as does the other three.

Let me know what you wish to do. Back to your seat, speak with the men, speak with Juriendor, something else?

"Attacking at the very time of your festival? It doesn't seem like a coincidence." Merfina mused thoughtfully. She looked towards the priest a moment later. "Perhaps we should fortify the building, to be on the safe side? Fear can easily grow when people feel like they're powerless to affect a situation, but if they're busy working, they won't have time for that."

"As you wish." Merfina said, sliding her trusty blade back into its storage space before heading back to her seat... although not without a few careful looks around the building, just to be sure. Regular, yearly attacks, was it? Curious, very curious indeed. Still, they were doing what worked for them, and she was here as an observer - it wasn't her place to try and impose her will, especially because their ritual seemed like a functional one.

Taking the Moonshard from the case, Juriendor once more holds the Moonshard aloft and with a powerful chanting sends a massive blast of bright energy throughout the cathedral that flows back to the moonshard and forms a glowing blue gateway centered upon the stone. Through the portal two orbs emerge, as soon as they enter the room, all normal light patterns warp and are drawn towards them! The attracted glow forms into a swirling pattern around the spheres before being absorbed directly into the dark floating orbs. Judging by the gasps and screams of panic erupting from the crowd, this does not normally occur during the Vigil for Light ritual. The orbs begin to circle around Juriendor, spinning wildly, then begin to lash out with cold, cloying bolts of darkness that send him to the floor! The moonshard falls to the ground and then through a crack in the boards to somewhere deep below. You can almost feel the frigid, lifeless grasp of some ancient evil slip its fingers around the artifact as it is dragged out of sight through the cracks.

The High Priest, prone, seems frozen in place as the orbs assault him. “Juriendor! No!” one of the villagers calls as he charges forward, pulling a short, metal candle holder from its bracket at the end of a pew. He swings the makeshift weapon and seems to hit one of the creatures. The orb is unaffected and before you can step forward it strikes the charging man with a ray, the effect of which forces him to his knees. Screams erupt from the crowd of villagers and, as one, they panic, suddenly people are running everywhere, towards both sets of stairs and outside into the darkness of the blizzard.

...Maybe putting her blade away had been premature. She drew it back out again when the people started panicking and moved into the aisle, focusing on the orbs. "Remain calm! Danger still lurks in the night!" she shouted. She focused her powers a moment later - darting through the crowd would take too long, and instead, she Warped past them to get close to the priest and do what she could.

You Warp yourself to close to Juriendor as the priest tries to stand, but fails, and the two creatures shoot a rays of darkness, one attempts to hit you, and one on Juriendor, but both miss. Shedding a cold and menacing shadow, these orbs of darkness move with a preternatural silence and a sinister air of doom.

Merfina UP
Init (HP Cur/Max, AC)
Merfina 23 (13/13 19/T13)
Foe(s) 8

You can look at the "DM rolls" spoiler. If there is something that I really, really, really want to keep secret I roll a real die(ce) on my table. Also, I put the basic creature statistics in spoiler at the end so you can roll attack / damage / spell(s) and know the result, including if you wish to roll saves where applicable. I find this speeds up the combat part of PbP.

I'm all for speeding things up. XD Incidentally, you can expect me to keep my quick-reference bar up-to-date for HP, so you don't need to worry about tracking that unless you really want to.

Without hesitating, Merfina darted forward and brought her weapon down in an overhead cleave aimed at the sphere that had fired at her. <"Away with you, foul beast!"> she cried out in Celestial, striking it dead-center with her weapon. They were in for a nasty surprise if they underestimated her...

Power Attack, and taking its DR into account. She may be good, but her weapon isn't. ...Yet. XD
Melee vs Orb 1: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (15) + 6 = 21 for Damage: 2d6 + 10 - 2 ⇒ (5, 4) + 10 - 2 = 17
In case you wanted the math, her STR mod's plus five, and she's two-handing, so she gets the multiplier bringing her bonus damage to seven. For the exact same reason, Power Attack gives her three points instead of two, for a total of ten. ...In a solo game, I figured having solid damage would be important. XD I'm not planning to go system-breaking extreme, because that's not fun, but you can expect her to be reasonably well-optimized for smashing stuff.

Attacking one of the creatures, you hit it and the thing dissipates. Juriendor once again tries to stand, and this time makes it up, however the creature shoots a ray at him, and this time a cloying black ray hits the cleric and staggers him. He retrieves his mace from his belt and swings, wounding the creature but not killing it.

Merfina UP
Init (HP Cur/Max, AC)
Merfina 23 (13/13 19/T13)
Foe(s) 8

Now would be... a pretty bad time to lose the priest. He looked like he was doing well enough in smacking the creature, and she focused briefly on her powers before slamming a bolt of healing energy into him.

Life Sphere (Cure): 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (2) + 1 = 3

It was... not the best healing she'd ever done. Still, it was better than nothing. The last thing this congregation needed was to see their leader fall, and she had every intention of preventing that if she could.

Merfina Init: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (5) + 6 = 11
Foe: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (15) + 4 = 19

Merfina UP
Init (HP Cur/Max, AC)
Merfina 23 (13/13 19/T13)
Foe(s) 8

Dang campground wifi went down Thursday night, just after I posted a 23.00 post and did not come back till late last night.

Were there any kids around? I can imagine the screams... XD

Stepping up beside the priest, Merfina swung out again-

Melee: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (20) + 7 = 27 for Damage: 2d6 + 7 - 2 ⇒ (5, 4) + 7 - 2 = 14
Crit Confirm: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (10) + 7 = 17 for Damage: 2d6 + 7 ⇒ (1, 5) + 7 = 13

-and cleanly severed the globe in half with a strike from her blade. Given how accurate that blow had been, she slightly regretted not putting even more force on it for emphasis... but she'd been aiming for accuracy there, given that it had already been hurt. "...These are your people, Priest." she said a moment later, looking back at what remained of the crowds. "What do you want to do?"

Juriendor pauses a moment and turns to you, "I must find the moonshard or the village is doomed. Please head up to the bell tower and help my student priests; most of them are untested in situations like this, and it seems someone, or something, is determined to disrupt our ceremony and threaten Rybalka's well being. Now go, please, for me!" Juriendor presses a vial of thick green liquid into your hands then charges down the stairs.

Nodding, Merfina sprinted down the aisle, vial in hand as she ran towards the stairs heading up. That should have been the path to the bell tower, at least... and admittedly, fires were a real problem. What in the world was going on here, anyway? She glanced down at the vial as she moved, checking for labels or anything else that would tell her what it was actually for.

Sprinting up the stairs, she sees a hallway with three doors, and quickly looks inside, looking for a way to continue up. The first two room(1&2) have ropes that go thru the ceiling and continue up, but otherwise are empty. The third room(3) is locked, so you move onto the fourth(4) appears to be a study, with a desk and a prayer kneeler. Continuing on, opening the next door(g) reveals a set of circular stairs going up.

"assuming" you just bypass a room that is locked, or has no person / creature and once you find the stairs up, you head that way. Let me know if you wish to do anything else before heading up the stairs.

She banged on the locked door quickly as she passed. "Smoke!" she said, just in case somebody was inside of it. Right now, the priority was locating the source of the flames and helping anybody who might have been up there, so she wasn't planning to spend too much time looking around. Instead, she darted up the stairs, her blade kept in a defensive position to ensure she wouldn't accidentally hit anyone with it.

Darting up the stairs, she comes to a small room with a single exit door. Opening the door, she moves quickly around the hallway till she comes to an open area where she sees the four ropes continue up, and a set of stairs that leads into the bell tower.

Moving up the stairs, which wind towards a set of bells that must be at the top of the tower. Looking up at the stairs, she sees four skeletal looking fire creatures at different points along the tower stairs, with their bodies pressed against the side of the wooden tower. It is well that it has been snowing as the sodden wood seems to be resisting the effort to catch on fire, but is beginning to smoke. As you approach the first creature, it seems to redouble its effort to set the tower on fire and ignore you.

Merfina UP
Init (HP Cur/Max, AC)
Merfina 7 (13/13 19/T13)
Foe(s) 25

Merfina didn't stop moving until she was in-range of the creature, and she swung up with her weapon-

Melee: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (3) + 6 = 9

-but she'd been moving too quickly, it seemed, and her blade was unable to connect with it. That was... irksome. Still, she had to take them down as quickly as she could, or the church was going to be in much more trouble... A fire right now would be very bad indeed, and she didn't have a lot of help.

Merfina UP
Init (HP Cur/Max, AC)
Merfina 7 (13/13 19/T13)
Foe(s) 25

The Aasimar swung out again-

Melee: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (12) + 6 = 18 for Damage: 2d6 + 10 - 5 ⇒ (6, 2) + 10 - 5 = 13

-and this time managed to deal a heavy blow to the mephit despite its durability. Sadly, for all its size, it could really only deal slashing damage... so she was resolving this more-or-less with a brute force approach. Honestly, calling out another weapon - which was within her abilities - probably wouldn't have made much of a difference anyway. "Who sent you, beast!?" she demanded of it.

If you'd like, I could roll a few more rounds of attacks to help speed it up. XD

Swinging a mighty blow with her sword, Merfina severely wounds the mephit closest to her, however the mephit hits her in return.

Merfina UP
Init (HP Cur/Max, AC)
Merfina 7 (9/13 19/T13)
Foe(s) 25

Merfina took a blow as she struck out, but didn't hesitate to keep going - there was no way to be perfectly safe, and the church needed to be protected from the possibility of going up in flames. That would be a very bad end to the day... to say nothing off her innate appreciation for the divine. She wasn't nearly as colorful as most of her kind, but it wasn't like she disliked the holy realms. She just had a different way of expressing herself.

Merfina, continues her assault on the skeletal mephit in front of her, and kills it with her next blow. She continues to climb the stairs and attacks the next mephit, but misses with her first attempt. The mephit stops pressing its body against the tower wall, and tries to claw at her, but she is able to dodge the attacks. They continue to trade blows, with both of them missing at least once but after Merfina second hit on the mephit it goes down. As she moves towards the third mephit, she is puzzled why the creatures seem to ignore her until she actually engages them. Reaching the third fire mephit, she once again hits it, but not enough to kill it. The third mephit turns from its attempt to set fire to the sodden tower, and misses with both claws.

Merfina UP
Init (HP Cur/Max, AC)
Merfina 7 (6/13 19/T13)
Foe(s) 25

At this, Merfina stepped back slightly to get out of melee range, sending a wave of healing energy into her body. She couldn't keep attacking forever, after all, and knowing when to recover her power was important.

Cure: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (5) + 1 = 6

With that done, she resumed her assault... although she wasn't landing blows as often as would have been nice right about now.

Melee: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (7) + 6 = 13
Melee: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (4) + 6 = 10
Melee: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (19) + 6 = 25 for Damage: 2d6 + 10 - 5 ⇒ (2, 2) + 10 - 5 = 9
Melee: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (12) + 6 = 18 for Damage: 2d6 + 10 - 5 ⇒ (4, 1) + 10 - 5 = 10

Back into the fray, Merfina swings twice at the mephit, and as she continues to miss, the creature for now is ignoring her, as the tower is starting to smolder. She finally connects and kills the creature.

Stepping up to the last of the fire mephits, she swings her sword and damages it. The creature turns on her and swings with both claws, and damages Merfina again.

Next?

Merfina UP
Init (HP Cur/Max, AC)
Merfina 7 (8/13 19/T13)
Foe(s) 25

Melee: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (6) + 6 = 12

Merfina's next swing was a miss, and she focused a moment later - hopefully the creature wouldn't strike a critical blow then. This time, she was casting defensively, to add some force to her blade and hopefully make it strong enough to knock the last foe out.

Defensive Casting, DC 16: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (15) + 6 = 21 In Spherecasting, Defensive Casting has a DC of 15 + Caster Level. The character's Concentration is their Magic Skill Bonus (which, for Merfina, is equal to her level) plus their Casting Ability Modifier (in this case, Charisma). The whole point of all this is to let her use Energy Blade and add her Destructive Blast's damage to a melee attack. XD As Bludgeoning damage, it is unaffected by the DR. She'll get better at this later, but I need three more feats...
Melee: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (11) + 6 = 17 for Damage: 2d6 + 10 - 5 ⇒ (2, 1) + 10 - 5 = 8 plus Magic Bludgeoning Damage: 1d6 ⇒ 4

Merfina swings, and misses, while the mephit also tries to claw her twice. Merfina casts defensively, and finally puts the final mephit down. Looking up, at the top of the tower, she is about twenty feet from the final platform and the four bells.

Cure: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 1 = 2
Cure: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (4) + 1 = 5
Down to 4/10 Spell Points.

All the fighting had clearly taken a toll on her, and her first attempt at healing herself basically whiffed. It worked, but not well enough, and she sent a second surge of healing energy through her body. She was starting to get low on power now, and would have to be careful about how she expended the rest. After checking to be sure she was in good shape, though, she crept up to the top of the tower to see if any foes remained here.

Heading quickly back down the stairs, you reach the main floor just as two of Juriendor acolytes come up from the stairwell on the other side of the main door. They look quite battered and bruised. One of them speaks, "The crypt, the dead that dwell there...they have always protected our cathedral. They have been turned, made to rise up against us! Can the gods have forsaken us?” The other man attempts to calm down his brother, speaking in hushed tones. “We became separated from High Priest Juriendor. He pushed ahead, searching for the moonshard. He said that we could all die without it. We were...set upon by the dead of the crypt and now I fear we may never see our Juriendor alive again; he disappeared into darkness. Please, go in search of him! Our healing is spent, but we have these two potions of curing that you may find useful. I fear all we can do now is pray to our god to save us all from this evil.”

Meanwhile, outside, battle rages against the undead. The village guard seem prepared, forming a circle around the cathedral, but now skeletons have appeared to bolster the attack and occasionally slip through the gaps—they begin to enter the cathedral. The calmer acolyte continues, "My friend, go to Juriendor's aid. We have our maces and have trained in hand-to-hand combat for many months." He twirls his mace skillfully as if to prove he can handle himself. "There are just a couple of undead here, but many more in the crypt below. You'll need all you've got to win through!" As the two acolytes charge toward the staggering skeletons, one fights while the other manages to push the main doors closed, with skeletal arms crushed between them as another creature slips in, joining the fight. You hear, “May the gods give strength to your endeavors!”

Note: Two potions of Cure Light Wounds, along with the potion of Cure Moderate Wounds that Juriendor gave you earlier.
.
Are you going down the stairs at the west end of the Cathedral, or the stairs thru the Trap door at the east end where Juriendor went down?

"The gods do not forsake their followers - but nor do they do everything for mortals." Merfina answered the acolyte. "Keep your faith and do all that you can - and even if you should fall, take comfort in knowing they will welcome your soul." After listening to the others, she considered for just a moment, then headed through the trapdoor to the east. She had many talents, but being in two places at once was not one of them, and they were more likely to succeed if they stuck together. Now if only she could get things to quiet down for a few minutes...

Continuing thru the rooms(27,29,31,32,35) she comes to an open trapdoor and another set of circular stairs down. Heading down the stairs, you see Juriendor leaning against a door, holding it shut. "Ware the next room. I managed to destroy the undead, except one zombie who bit me, and there is a something that is coming up from below. Please, the moonshard is in that room. Save it so my people need not be afraid."

Hooray for not having to go through them one by one. XD

Merfina nodded. "I still have a few potions - do you need one?" she inquired. Magic was useful for many things, including healing those who'd suffered, and she wasn't the type to hesitate when it came to offering help to those in need. Case in point: Helping the cathedral in the first place. Otherwise, she was quite ready to face whatever was beyond the door.

"I am out of the ability to use my faith to destroy the undead, but my warhammer still works. Ready to enter?" and he opens the door and steps into the room. As you enter, you see one remaining undead moving towards you. Behind the creature a pile of rubble surrounds a hole in the floor, from which a massive, looming spider, seemingly made completely from stone, emerges. It tests the ground inside the room and after finding it suitable, climbs into the chamber and turns toward you. Things are not looking good.

As the zombie approaches, Juriendor swings and destroy the final undead, but the spider remains.

Next?
Cathedral Map Updated

Merfina UP
Init (HP Cur/Max, AC)
Merfina 7 (8/13 19/T13)
Foe(s) 13
Juriendor 18

I feel like I should note she healed up earlier. XD 13/13 HP.

"Get that cured as fast as you can." she told him before nodding for the door to be opened.

...Huh. If it had been a normal creature, she would have tried blinding it... but strange things made of stone didn't always react the same way. She moved cautiously forward - creatures that big usually had great reach, and she wasn't going to rush in like an idiot. Instead, she moved to be as defensive as possible, trying to get it to come closer so she could safely move the rest of the way.

Total Defense: Adds a +4 Dodge Bonus to her AC, bringing her up to 32/T 17.

The spider not sure whether Merfina or Juriendor presents the greater threat, but decides that the lightly armored creature would be easiest to take down so he moves up to Merfina and attacks, however, moving over the rubble as he came up from below throws off his aim.

Juriendor moves up next to the spider, and attacks it, damaging it badly.

You see a dark shape, moonshard in hand, drop down into the hole in the middle of the room, and Juriendor yells, "the moonshard, no!!!!!!!"

Merfina UP
Init (HP Cur/Max, AC)
Merfina 7 (13/13 19/T13)
Foe(s) 13
Juriendor 18

Two-Handed Power Attack: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (12) + 6 = 18 for Damage: 2d6 + 10 ⇒ (6, 4) + 10 = 20

With a single heavy swing, Merfina struck the creature full in the face, breaking through as she finished her attack. It was probably going to stay down, and she sprang forward, looking for any quick way to follow the figure. If nothing else, she could probably warp down...