Checking the man, and seeing his regaining of consciousness, Ezro nods. "Yes, he will be fine. I also believe you are probably right. They panicked quickly."
Looking around the room with the rest of the group, he goes to see the hidden passage that Aladir found.
"Back under ground already then?" Ezro says with noticeable disappointment. Sighing, he snaps his fingers, light illuminating his holy symbol around his neck.
"Alikia, are you alright to continue?"
You'll stay here if you know what's good for you! Hyram will say to the bound man as he gags him.
He will then take his place behind Quinn with his sword at the ready.
The man just nods his head at Hyram threat, with a look of fear in his eyes.
Heading down the stairs with Quinn in the lead. The air in this basement is damp and musty-smelling. The walls and floor are packed earth, while dozens of gourds hang from the ceiling beams. A sludge of rotting plant matter covers the floor. Against one wall, a wooden table holds a strange apparatus that looks like a clockwork toy of a snake-bodied, six armed woman holding a word in each hand. A wooden chest covered with engraved runes stands under the table, and a sinister image of a star surrounding a goat’s face is painted on the wall above the table.
Aladir looks around the basement room as they move down into it, his mouth turning down into a slight frown.
"Well...this isn't sinister at all...what do you make of those symbols and figures? I've no knowledge of religious iconography..."
Hyram will look at the image and see if he can decipher its meaning.
Quinn studies the runes and the image on the wall trying, like the others to decipher meaning.
Ezro studies the area in general in obvious discomfort and disgust, trying to make some type of sense of it, holding his symbol high. He tries to wrack his mind about anything he might have heard in the chapel.
"This place seems entirely unholy..."
Quinn halts on the final step before the sludge of the floor, speaking the pass-phrase. He motions the others to hold for a moment. He draws his blade and a vial of alchemist's fire and steps down into the decaying muck.
The smell of the place was earily familiar. He sank for a brief moment back into the inky blackness of the haze... But, righteous fury won the battle. The thoughts of such a foul place as this lying right under the noses of a thousand crusaders... his blood boilesd to think of it.
Slowly, carefully, he moved towards the table.
Pulling out the copy of unholy text she picked up off of Holilla, Alikia clearly shouts out the pass phrase before crossing through the room, making sure to stay clear of the moss before approaching the iconography of the demon. Flipping through the small book, she stops at a page with a symbol of the Lord of the Minotaurs. "This was definitely a place of demon worship. I suspect this to be a shrine of the demon lord Baphomet. At least, the symbols match up."
As Quinn approaches the table, the goats head in the image on the wall speaks, “Ahh... I hope you are among Iomedae’s slaves... I would hate to think of mere peasants wasting such a personal greeting from Lord Baphomet!” As soon as the goat head stops speaking a creature claws its way out of the southern pile of rotting vegetation. This filthy creature resembles a small, wide-mouthed fat child made from leaves, vines, tree bark, dirt, and pallid tubers and it looks to be in a mood for combat.
Hyram UP
When I am done with your friend, I will eradicate you from that wall! Hyram says to the 'goat' as he goes to attack the plant-creature.
"Tell Baphomet that we send our regards!" Aladir replies as he nocks an arrow to his bowstring and lets the missile fly at the plant creature.
Taken aback by the sights, and the creature rising from the trash, he fumbles with his symbol momentarily as he moves into the room with great haste, before holding the silver symbol aloft and shouting a blessing of Iomedea, "Inheritor! Guide our blades and missiles, to strike true into the heart of this evil!"
"Foul abyssal scum," Quinn growls, as the creature lashes out at Hyram. With his ally too close to use the vial of fire, Quinn let's it drop with a squelch into the muck. He moves to flank the creature and slashes.
Alikia's eyes widen in astonishment as the symbol speaks. "Well, I can't say that I expected that. Aston-" Alikia is cut off by the plant creature clawing its way out of the filth. "Oh dear."
Pulling out the want of magic missile, Alikia drops the book, before waving the wand with a flourish.
Hyram moves to the plant creature, and swings and misses it. Aladir steps up and shoots an arrow but also misses the creature.
The mandragora attacks Hyram with its bite and slams, however only the bite hits, damaging him.
Alikia pulls out her wand and hurts the creature. Ezro blesses the party, and Quinn hits the creature hard.
Hyram UP
Aladir takes another shot at the thing, deftly avoiding hitting Hyram.
Quinn tries to draw the plants attention, but it focuses its ire back on Hyram. He slashes Radiance through vine and root, taking chunks off of the creatures exterior, as another of Aladir's arrows embeds in its innards.
"What is that thing?!" Giving a panicked look to Aladir and Ezro, Alikia waves the wand at the creature again, as it sputters out two missiles that strike the grubby creature in the side of its "head" and chest. After the wand strikes her foe, Alikia stores the magical implement in her bag, as she prepares to handle her crossbow.
Hyram, angry he missed last time, tries to stab the creature again and is just able to do so while the creature is distracted by a flanking Quinn.
Your turn is coming, Goat-thing!
Ezro fidgets with his blade as he looks around. It appeared to him that the others had this creature on the ropes. Thinking this he begins checking the rest of the room, prepared in case another creature popped into being.
Hyram swings at the plant, and damages it. Aladir shoots an arrow and also hits, however other than plant creature, he has no idea of what it is.
The plant creature attacks Hyram with its bite and two slams, but only the bite gets thru, damaging him.
Alikia casts a magic missile and the two missiles damage the creature, as Ezro prepares for another one to step up. Quinn power attacks the plant and it falls apart onto the floor.
Hyram will go over to the image on the wall to see if it speaks again. If not he will deface it with his sword, if it speaks again, he will listen before defacing it.
Quinn pokes at the pieces of the plant creature until convinced that it is fully dead. He collects his dropped vial of alchemist's fire and pockets it before approaching the goat-head symbol on the wall.
"Any final declarations before my friend here turns you into decopage?" he asks the magical mouth.
Frowning heavily and knocking off the dirt from the unholy text she dropped, Alikia watches with pursed lips as the two holy men prepare to deface the iconography. It did not sit right with her to maim the symbol, as opposed to taking the time to clean it off the wall properly. As Quinn pulls out the alchemist fire, Alikia scans the underground room for anything that the cultist might have left behind, other than the obvious symbol. "Wait, I'm confused. Are we going to turn him into an arts and crafts project? Or are we going to turn the plant into a decoupage?"
Quinn bends down at the table getting a closer look at the small clockwork device. "Aladir, what do you make of this? A toy? A trap?"
Craning her neck to get a good view of the small statue, Alikia scans her brain for any significance. "Well, it could be something for the archive?" she says sheepishly, while giving the chest a longing look. Her curiosity was getting the better of her, but she would wait until Aladir gave the all clear before handling anything on the table. "Did anyone happen to pick up an oil of erase, when we were at base camp? I'm sure that could help make quick work the symbol without destroying the wall beyond."
Aladir moves to the table after examining the plant creature and coming up empty as far as any knowledge of what it might be. As best he can, he examines the small statue to try and determine what exactly it is.
Aladir and Alikia closely exam the statue. Aladir does not find a trap, but he does notice a button on the back of the statue, almost hidden by the way it is constructed. Alikia rummages around in her memory of things, and suddenly it dawns on her what it is.
While you approached the table, with the statue and wooden chest on it, the drawing on the wall does nothing. Alikia with her knowledge of arcane things muses.
Hyram and Quinn both take their swords out, and run them across and thru the goats head symbol and the large symbol, defacing it.
Aladir points out to the others the button on the back of the statue, questioning whether or not he should actually press it, given the circumstances of its finding.
Quinn takes a closer look at the unusual device, and its secretive button. "Stand back," he says to the rest, "and be ready."
When everyone has had an opportunity to take up positions around the room, Quinn grips his sword and presses the button.
Ezro prepares himself again, and nods to the others, "Good or ill, we must get deeper. That was the mission we were tasked with after all. I doubt it will be a warm greeting anyways."
Hyram looks at his and Quinn's handiwork of the goat-head image on the wall. Not saying too much now are you!? he says well-pleased. As someone pushes the button Hyram will stand back with his sword at the ready.
Looking strangely at her companions when the prepare to be attacked, Alikia scratches her head. "Hey guys, I know that we've had a really bad couple of days, but I doubt that the cultist have triggered a toy to attack us." As she speaks she flips open the lid to the small chest, as she is unable to contain her curiosity any longer. "Now, what do we have here?" Aliki muses, as she flicks through the items in the chest, using one of her cold iron crossbow bolts.
Ezro and Hyram move back a bit, while Alikia opens the chest and Aladir watches as Quinn pushes the button on the toy. As he does, the toy falls to pieces and a liquid inside it spills to the floor and everyone smells the noxious odor.
As the wave hits Ezro, he doubles over, dry heaving with the stench as it fills his nostrils, making his eyes water.
Coughing as the noxious odor emits from the clockwork toy, it takes all of Alikia's will power to not retch out her breakfast. Stumbling away from the chest, the half-elf leans against the wall attempting to regain her composure.
Everyone coughs at the noxious odor, but only Aladir, Alikia and Ezro seem to be affected by whatever this stench is. Aladir and Alikia seem to be trembling while Ezro starts shivering.
While Alikia is poking around the chest she opened there are five holy symbols of Iomedae and a note that reads “We don’t need these anymore, but figured if you survived our surprise, it would be just plain rude to leave behind an empty chest for your troubles!”
After coughing out most of the strange fumes, Alikia brushes off her tunic before begin to talk in a fast, higher pitched voice. "Wow! Does anyone else feel ready to take on the next stronghold? Cause, I sure do. By the way, it seems like this place was already picked clean. Man, I haven't felt this energized since I got into my da's study and mixed all those concoctions. 'Course that did erase most of his research on the properties of alchemical silver versus mithril."
As Alikia talks, she is a flurry of motion, gesturing wildly with her hands, and picking at random things, such as the wall, the symbols in the chest, and messing with her hair. After a few moments of waiting for someone to respond, she turns to Hyram and Quinn "So, we ready to go to Nyserian Manor?"
A shiver goes through Ezro's body as the cold courses briefly through him.
"D-did anyone else feel that int-t-tense cold?!?" he asks with a shiver, rubbing his hands together.
Hyram is amused at Alikia's nervous energy. I'm ready. he says in response to her question as he watches her hands perform an outstanding display of acrobatics.
It is when he looks over at Ezro and sees that cleric seems to have a bluish tint to his skin that he becomes concerned. No. The tempreture here has been consistent. Are you well? You look like you had just swam in an icy river?
Quinn looks to Hyram, shrugging away his other companions' erratic behavior. He reads the note over Alikia's shoulder, dodging a few of her more extreme gesticulations.
"Well, this doesn't tell us much. We already knew the cultists were masquerading as crusaders." Quinn flips the lid shut. "At least we know there were five of them. Maybe that will help identify the group responsible."
Leaving the Topaz Solutions building behind, you head quickly over to the Tower of Estrod. Aladir and Alikia both in a hurry, and seemingly having a bit of the trembles, while Ezro not longer feels cold and his skin is returning to its normal hue. As you approach the Tower, you see a sixty-foot-diameter gray stone tower is missing the bulk of its upper floors—some terrific force smashed its upper sections away, creating huge mound of rubble north of the building and leaving the tower now a mere stump with a jagged top. It is probably two floors in total.