The bear moves in, clearing targeting the Priestess of Erastil. As the ferocious creature moves in, Jacobus takes a swing but misses. Theodore, ready as the creature moves in, stabs the bear in the shoulder as Razarak moves around behind the bear.
Undeterred, the bear bites at Tove, latching onto the priestess's arm and tearing at her flesh.
I see that the bear has targeted Tove and challenge the creature and inch my shield closer to Tove. Before striking at the bear.
Jacobus moved behind the bear and struck out again with his mace, putting all his core muscles into the swing.
--------------
AoO
HP 30/30
AC 21, touch 12, flat-footed 19
Conditions: fast healing 2
Melee (heavy mace): +4 = +2(base) +2 (STR)
Melee Damage (heavy mace): 1d8+2, x2
-1 to hit / +2 damage with power attack
0/1 judgment with surge, 6/6 agile feet, 4/4 1st level spells
After Raz skirts the bear, dropping into dragon style on the way, he uses the bears ally focused distraction to attempt to strike the bear.
Tove cries out in pain as the bear rips chunks from her flesh, but she quickly clears her mind and calls down aid from above
"Erastil heal this wound that I may continue in your service."
To the bear, she shows off her freshly healed arm, with no sign of the vicious attack and speaks. "Erastil is with me, beast. You have strayed from the light and now you will face judgement."
Tove swings her quarterstaff around from her back and pulls the leather carry-strap off over her head, readying the weapon to fight back against the bear.
With a flick of his fingers and a few words from Torsten, a dab of butter flies in the bear's direction and expands into a slick beneath the beast.
Even after moving into an advantageous position, Raz is unable to land a meaningful blow on the enraged bear.
Theodore stabs into the bear's shoulder again, wounding the creature further, while Rufus latches onto one of the bear's legs with a bite
Meanwhile, Jacobus misses as the bear roars passed him, but repositioning himself opposite Tove, he land a solid blow to the bear's hindquarters.
Torsten moves closer, conjuring a slippery substance beneath the bear's paws that causes the beast to lose its footing and fall to the ground.
Lacking any other options, Ivo shrugs and just settles for trying to stab the enraged furry beast.
While Ivo may not have particularly liked his options, his blade finds a weak point in the beast's hide none-the-less.
Further enraged the bear lashes out at Theodore while still flailing on the ground but fails to land any significant blows on the well defended halfling.
(prone)
(prone)
(prone)
(prone)
(prone)
Raz will make a flurry of blows on the prone bear, hoping the bear flailing on the ground is less able to avoid his attacks.
Razarak unleashes a flurry of strikes, pounding the bear's prone form. After the assault, the bear makes an almost human-sounding sigh of relief, then collapses in on itself, transforming first into an incredibly old human man with a look of peace in his eyes, and then a moment later crumbling into a skeleton and thence to dust.
At this moment, the entire shrine seems to grow more vibrant and colorful. The water in the pool becomes crystal clear.
"Whoa," says Ivo as the bear turns into a crumpled old man.
"I feel kinda bad for beating up an old guy."
Jacobus stepped away from the now, very-dead bear and went over to the dragon-blooded, "Nice work there, Raz. I think your claws have gotten stronger, maybe even sharper?"
He placed his mace in its loop around his waist and strapped the shield on his back while looking around at the place.
He smiled at Tove, "Well, I think the bear was sort of big downer on this whole place. How does it feel now? Old Dead Eye should be proud."
--------------
A look of surprise crosses Tove's face as the bear transforms, but she stands by her judgement call.
"Whoever he was, he strayed from the righteous path."
Looking up and seeing the shrine transform the priestess is filled with a wave of hope and satisfaction.
"Amazing." She smiles back at Jacobus. "Indeed, behold how vibrance is restored now that the temple is rid of the old man's herecy."
As the party stands and watches crumbling stone seems to mend on its own. The granite stair case leading to the cave entrance reforms. Wayward vines clear, leaving behind what the shrine must have looked like when it was created so long ago.
Taking in the wonder of the now rejuvenated shrine you notice that the waters of the pool, now crystal clear, seem to have some extra vibrancy to them.
Almost lost on you as you regard the magically rejuvenated temple, is the fact that evening fast approaches. Perhaps this would be a good place to rest for the night.
Examining the scene Torsten seems a little less certain. "Without his whole story how can we be sure this will not happen again? Not that you would fall so far good Tove, but another might do so.
"For now though perhaps the god will not begrudge us shelter this night in his temple. Shall we look within?"
"well, didn't expect that... at least his struggle is over. I wonder how he, and this place, came to be so cursed.
Tove has little reassurance to offer Torsten, part of her wishes she had learned more from the bear-man, but he was too far gone to reason with.
"All we can do is pray. Perhaps once we inform Jhod that we have found the temple he will take up a position tending to it. We should remain vigilant in any case that whatever happened here in the past is not repeated."
Feeling the chill of evening set in, Tove agrees that the cave would make good shelter.
"Let's see what Old Deadeye has in store."
I dismount and shudder as the bear morphs into a man and then dissolves into ash. I look around in alarm and notice I am not the only shocked one, "Well at least he sounded relieved at the end and he looked at peace. It is almost as if he were cursed, and that curse affected the land too."
Rufus goes to the clear water and gives it a sniff, then to where the man-bear was, before coming back to my side. I follow Tove into the cave before setting up my little camp area inside.
"A moment. The water here has been blessed with healing power. I would take some and see if it lasts away from the pool. Tove, will you offer a prayer to your Stag God as I do so?" Torsten takes out a waterskin and empties the remaining water from it before approaching the pool.
As you enter the cave you notice a number scenes painted on the cave walls. The works are more modern in nature toward the entrance to the cave and become more and more primitive as you work your way toward the back.
Six stone benches are in the middle of the cave, sitting before granite and carved wood altar.
Tove prays with Torsten as he retrieves some of the pool's water before venturing inside.
Looking around at the cave paintings Tove is in awe.
"Incredible, this place must have been a sacred site for millennia. These paintings at the back still carry on motifs and ideas from the Green Faith, although Erastil has clearly made his presence known to whoever was worshipping here. Do you recognise the parable here Theo?" The priestess points out one of the more modern works, close to the entrance.
"That old guy must've done something really bad for Erastil to turn him into an angry bear," says Ivo. "But... what do we do about this? I mean, it's not like you can just move in and live here, Tove."
I look at the words scribed into the wall and smile, saying the phrase as if memorised to heart. I smile a peaceful smile as I look around the cave and the clearing, "I don't know, I would quite happily live here. It is truly beautiful and peaceful."
"Did not Jhod express an interest in this temple? Perhaps he will bring others also. There are more followers of the Stag God than Tove alone." Torsten sounds distracted as he makes his way to the back to examine the paintings there.
I look to Torsten a little hurt, but quickly recognise the distracted tone and expression he is giving off, so I hold my tongue. "Jhod should be extremely happy with this place, maybe it will become a pilgrimage site. I just hope Tyg, Perlavash and Lanyssa will be happy with people tracking through their countryside."
Jacobus was awed by the sanctity of the place, "Even if no one lives here, I can't think of a better place to pay homage to Old Dead Eye."
He examined the paintings, "At the very least this could be a pilgrimage site but maybe even a temple or a community give time."
He concluded, "It's definitely something worth telling others about."
-------------
Almost lost on you as you regard the magically rejuvenated temple, is the fact that evening fast approaches. Perhaps this would be a good place to rest for the night.
Tove smiles at Theodore as he demonstrates his devotion to Erastil.
She nods in agreement to Torsten and Theo as they speak of Jhod's interest in the temple.
"I'm sure Jhod will be happy with this place, and even if I can not live here, I should very much like to return, myself, from time to time."
With that Tove settles down in front of the altar and lights a candle from her pack. Offering up silent praise to Erastil and thanking him for his blessing.
Torsten conjures lights, gets out his spellbook and starts making notes in the back. "A journal. That is what I need," he mutters.
Ivo shrugs off his pack, takes a seat leaning against the wall, and rummages around and pulls out his journal. He carefully prepares his inkpen and then scribbles a few notes about the last couple days' journey. As he is a gnome, these notes are neither concise nor useful.
Once my camp is set up, I go around and help everyone set up there sleeping areas, as usual, while Rufus propels around the area looking for some game.
But the surrounding area has been good of game and life for so long that nothing is found. He comes back to the group sulking about his lack of food, before laying inside my tent.
I help get the fire Going, reciting several verses of Erastils holy book.
Rufus is unable to rustle up any game tonight, but fortunately (unfortunately as the case may be) you still have trail rations to get you through the night.
- nope
You dream of a once a small but well-tended shrine to Erastil, the Temple of the Elk has stood abandoned for many years since Taldor’s last attempt to occupy this region. Unfortunately, the last keeper of the shrine went a little mad after he finally admitted to himself that the indigenous tribes of trolls, savage humanoids, and other monsters had “won” and would drive the Taldan colonists out. Frustrated, the cleric lured a large bear to the temple and sacrificed it in the name of “any who would answer the call” to aid against the humanoids. His lack of faith in Erastil proved his undoing, and the god of the hunt drove the priest mad, and stripped him of his abilities and even his humanity. The mad priest became a large grizzly bear to replace the one whose life he had sacrificed, and Erastil granted him immortality in his new form but not enough intellect to make much of it, forcing him to remain at the site as a guardian until someone worthy of Erastil could come to lift the curse.
You enjoy an undisturbed evening of rather peaceful rest and awaken to a cool but sunny morning.
I wake early and scoop some water from the pool outside, give Erastil a quick prayer before drinking some and then splashing my face to wake me up properly. I then get to grooming myself as per usual. Once finished I join Tove for her morning prayers and then pack the camp away.
After eating I refill my canteen with water from the pool and mount Rufus, ready to begin our new day. I seem to be very happy and jolly, having spent the night here.
Morning arrives and you pack up your belongings as you somewhat reluctantly decide to leave the Temple of the Elk and head off to the northeast in search of Lanyssa's home.
A couple of hours into your ride the forest becomes even more dense, making it difficult for the horses the move quickly through, although Rufus has little problem darting in and out of the old hardwood trees.
(with Strauch)
By mid-day the canopy is so dense that those of you who can not see in limited light conditions need to ignite a light source.
You feel slightly uneasy as you travel through the forest, not necessarily endangered, just not familiar as the ancient wood has an otherworldly quality about it.
Looking around as you slowly make your way through the woods, Jacobus, Torsten, and Razarak notice an small cottage off to the north.
Jacobus got off his horse and massaged his butt and legs, "Well, I think we're in the right area and there's that cottage over there."
He walked his horse over while leading the others, "C'mon, at the very least maybe we'll get some warm food."
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Torsten gets off his horse with considerably less grace and leans against it for a moment, a ball of light floating over his shoulder. "This may be the right part of the forest, but who can say whose house this is? HALLOO THE HOUSE!" he calls.
Not being able to see the cottage until the others point it out, I nod to Having a. "Let us hope that this is Lanyssa's house and if it is, we shall have to keep an eye out for the wolf and eagle." I make sure to stay beside Tove as we travel; still riding Rufus, feeling safer beside her. As we talk I ask her questions about Erastils teaching which have baffled me but too afraid to ask any elders.
Ivo remains quiet and unobtrusive.