Tera, being one of the smallest and lightest people even when wearing the heavy leather and chain kilt, volunteers to guide the horse across.
"You can help coach me in keeping them calm, right," she asks, "I'd rather get across and do some looking today than wait."
Marcus blushes deep red at Sal's comment, stumbling over his words, he tries to explain.
"Oh, the ring.....it's not like that.....I just.....it helps the magic connect us......but not.... I mean, not like that...... I need it for a spell, its silly.....you don't have to take it...."
A couple minutes away from the horses does wonders for Kaede to center herself. As she watches Tera lead them slowly across the dangerous bridge, she listens to Marcus flounder about the rings. She pulls her eyes away from the bridge to examine the ring for a moment. "To spread the injuries in a more intense version of what you already do, right?" she asks as she slips it on. "I think I've seen this spell before..."
Oliver jogs over to Sister Amet-Ra and reaches out his hands to help her unload and decides it best to heed Sister Amet-Ra’s wishes regarding the timing of the ritual.
”Whatever you believe to be best Sister. Going in while it’s still dark and while any potential goblin scum in there are remain in a drunken sleep would certainly give us a distinct advantage.”
Sister Amet'Ra can't help but chuckle as Sal's teasing embarrasses Marcus into a bout of stammering. "We'll lead the horses across first," she announces, "so that if the bridge is weaker than it appears we won't leave anyone stranded on the far side."
Thankfully, her concerns prove unnecessary. The priestess leads her mare across safely, and Tera follows with the other horse without incident as well. Soon the others have finished carrying over provisions, camping supplies, and everything brought for the cleansing of the shrine, and the beginning of a campsite is laid out back in the courtyard where the heroes had slept only two nights ago.
"Shall we begin with a check of this floor to make sure there are no new goblins lurking?" Sister Amet'Ra asks.
Orin readies his sword and shield and steps up to the front, waiting for others to fall in beside or behind him.
Marcus waits for a spot in the middle of the group. While the others get themselves set, he silently focus' on his magic.
The whole while that the group test the bridge, Kaelaah simply watches... rightly or wrongly, he has assigned himself the responsibility of Sister Amet'Ra's safety - and until he is convinced that the bridge, structurally suspect even before it was damaged, is safe then he will hold tight the reins of is mentor's horse...
"I agree with Sal; clear a floor of threats first, then better check for other things. We can gather bodies for a funeral pyre at the end as well. It would be my preference to barricade the stairs in the front hall, since if we have trouble, that's where it'll inevitably go through."
Tera starts moving ahead of the others, difficult to spot in the dim shadows with her black and gray clothing. She has a little trouble with the darkness, but her eyes and ears have hardly any trouble picking out the details in what she sees and hears.
A relatively thorough sweep of the ground floor, and both guard turrets, reveals no new threats nor treasures. The absence of some of the mundane weapons and armor that had been left after the heroes' first outing, however, seems to indicate that someone or something has been through here recently.
"You clear a rat's nest... and more vermin will return", Kaelaah observes with no hint of surprise at Sister Amsel's observation... almost imperceptibly, the flame in the shoanti's hand burns a little brighter as he is ready for whatever may come...
"Well, if there's nothing else new, let's check the next floor down." Kaede says, eager to finish with this place.
Once again, Tera slips into the gloom and keeps her eyes and ears open for any sign of goblins or worse as she and Sal make sure that the place has truly been abandoned.
The first subterranean level seems largely undisturbed from the last time the heroes saw it; whatever took weapons and armor from above ground seems not to have ventured down here. The one exception to this lack of change comes when checking the quarters of Nualia's associates: Orik's room has, unsurprisingly, been cleaned out, and the bugbear's room has been ransacked.
Two areas of this level had not previously been explored. The first is the tunnel heading east from the chamber where the bugbear was ambushed. It proves, as expected, to double back to the cave through which the heroes entered the lower level, though along the way it opens into a small cavern. There is nothing of note in the cavern but a few heaps of rusty metal and moldy leather scraps that look like they've been salvaged from human settlements.
This appears to leave only the chapel unexplored. Its large double door entrance remains closed on its east side , and its smaller door on the south side remains locked ...
"How would you like to proceed?" Sister Amet'Ra asks as she begins casting remove fear on Oliver and Orin.
"I guess that depends on whether or not we want to go in quietly or like a smithy hammer." Tera shrugs as she looks to the others. "I'd like to go in first and make sure there aren't any traps, but everyone else may thing it better to hit whatever may be hiding as hard as we can."
"We keep everyone back in the hallways then," Kaede responds, trying to figure out the tactics. "Check the door for any traps and deal with them, then open the door and quickly fall back behind Orin and I, with Sal, Kaelaah and Oliver ready to take shots if there is something in there. Does that work?"
Kaelaah nods quietly at Sister Mayumi, flames already licking up his wrists as the temperature in the hallway warms somewhat...
Oliver nods to Kaede "As you suggest." and pulls an arrow to his bow string while muttering quietly. His eyes begin to glow faintly red as he attempts to blend into the shadows.
Let's hope this is a lot of preparation for nothing. Then again, ridding this country of a few more goblins with the help of these heroes might not be so bad
Tera gives the door a thorough inspection, while doing her best to not look at the carvings too closely.
Once done, and any traps she'd found disabled, she turns to the others to see if they are ready.
Tera finds the doors free of any traps, and unlocked. Once the archers have prepared themselves toward the back, she throws open the door. Immediately the wretched baying erupts again.
The newly opened doors reveal twenty foot wide, twenty-five foot deep nave overlooked by a chancel thirty feet wide and fifteen to twenty feet deep. Stone fonts containing frothy dark water sit to the north and south of the eastern entrance to the room, and twin banks of stone pillars run the length of the long chamber. At the western end, shallow stairs rise about two feet to the chancel. The walls surrounding this platform are lit by hanging braziers that emit glowing red smoke, giving the place an unnerving crimson lighting that throws the bas-relief carvings of countless monsters feasting on fleeing humans into lurid display. A black marble altar stone, its surface heaped with ashes and bone fragments, squats before a ten-foot-tall statue. The sculpture depicts a very pregnant but otherwise shapely naked woman who wields a kukri in each taloned hand and has a long reptilian tail, birdlike taloned feet, and the snarling head of a three-eyed jackal with a forked tongue. The left kukri flickers with fiery orange light while the right one glows with a cold blue radiance.
On either side of the altar stone crouch the yeth hounds, snarling and ready to pounce. Oliver has the presence of mind to loose his drawn arrow at one of them, but Sal is suddenly overcome with fear. As Kaelaah launches a gout of flame she can feel an undeniable need to flee swelling up inside her...
The creaking doors sound almost thunderous against the dark quiet of the hall. As they unfold, revealing the macabre scene they hid, hellish sounds cause Oliver to tremble slightly. He gulps hard, fighting his desire to flee... his knuckles turn white as he grips his bow tightly... the trembling stops and he fire a quick shot at the snarling best.
,
Tera hears the baleful howling, but like before, she is hardly fazed by it. If anything, she feels annoyed.
"And of course, there has to be a big bad wolf," she grumbles as she readies her bow.
Instinctively, Kaelaah lashes out... a wild blast of flame that is barely controlled...
Sal, Oliver, and Kaelaah all find their mark, striking the southernmost hound. Sal's arrow barely leaves and mark and Oliver's is about half as effective as he expected, but Kaelaah's fire seems to work just fine.
Apparently caught slightly off guard by their foe's resiliency to their baying, the hounds are unable to respond before the assault continues...
initiative: 8
Oliver looks visibly disheartened by the lack of effect from his arrow, but then smiles to himself as Kaelaah's flames consume the beast.
Apparently, adventuring with heroes is not without its perks.
He eyes his target and fires 2 more arrows.
,
,
The beasts are slow to react... and so, reaching inwardly for more flames, he lashes out again...
Orin lets the arrows and flames fly by, then ducks into the room and prepares for the inevitable charge.