Watching at the antics of Gabriel and leaning against the wall as others are examining the robes "Well, what ever it might have been, its already over since long time and we still need to see rest of the places here"
More likely it was changes of clothes for the individual who lived in this room. He probably had a few sets of clothing.
13 on Perception finds nothing else out of the ordinary in the chest.
Alathea casts Detect Magic on the contents of the chest.
Perception
"Agreed Jor. We do need to explore the rest of this place. Perhaps we will find further evidence that Gabriel's proposition is correct. If so we will right a great wrong done to the legacy of the High Priest".
Ok Alathea taking a look notices something else. The chest has a false bottom, likey used to hide more illicit materials from prying eyes. With some help you're able to pull up the wooden slab and find inside a skull shaped black candle, black coloured incense, 3 unguents and a blackened tome with the skull of Chemosh motif on the cover. Taking the book and looking inside you notice the "Leather" is an unusual colour and the text of the book is a blood red colour. Remarkingly the candle, incense and book are unmarked by the passage of time.
To understand the book you'll need to make me a Knowledge: Religion check. To identify any magical properties it will be a spellcraft.
Spellcraft
Knowledge Religion
[ooc] Did my spell detect magic.
know his
Spell Craft
Nice spellcraft check!
After the items have been identified the Black Robe will suggest, Since I wear the Black Robes I am the most qualified to keep track of these items which seem to be dedicated to the Lord of Bones.
Ok with that high a spell craft check and thumbing through the book terevalis discovers that the book is a book that describes the rites and rituals involved in worshiping the Lord of Bones. The candle is a candle of invocation and the black incense is an incense of mediation. The unguents are the timelessness type which can preserve objects indefinitely from the ravages of time. The tome is interesting in that it has divine power infused into its pages. By performing a ritual out of the book the user can Commune personally with Chemosh. Of course doing so is an act of evil and pestering a dark God for information is a risky endeavour.
Seeing the evil book, she speaks up, "Perhaps we should destroy that book, seems to be the source of the evil that resulted in the horrid that took place in this temple."
Destruction of knowledge that you do not understand little depressed thief? I am not sure that our cleric of Zivilyn would agree that this knowledge and awareness and understanding into the cult of Chemotherapy should be destroyed. he says fromantic behind his hood.
It should not say Chemotherapy. That is what I get for typing on my phone.
"Some knowledge is better left unknown. We are not all so willing to exchange our souls for power. Though I guess if you have any future plans of making a deal with ogres and destroying a holy temple, it might come in handy."
'Regardless, that vision suggested that there is an unholy alter somewhere in the bowels of this edifice. We might want to look for that."
This book dates before the fall of Istar and the first cataclysm. It could be of use to us since the constellation of the Lord of Bones shines brighter in the sky. he states.
Alathea nods to Terevalis, "Agreed, the book should be brought to the Temple of Gilean to record in the great library. If a book of ineffable good was discovered should we destroy that as well? I think not, the book should be kept away from our foes but to destroy knowledge is a sin as well".
Behind his hood he smiles.
Of course not. The balance must be maintained.
Anyway it appears you have found all that is of value in this room. Where do you want to head to next?
From initial viewing it appears this floor has been cleared out. Looking into other rooms you find that every other room has been thoroughly looted. You head to the south end and find a stairway leading downward. However before heading down the stairs to the next floor give me a perception check.
Shroud does not notice anything unusual as he follows the party holding the glowing tree.
Perception
Perception
"Let us head to the lower temple and see if we can find the source of corruption."
Before they descend the wizard will make sure to cover the book with extra clothes and put it in his backback.
None of you notice anything unusual before you head down the stairs. The stairs have the remains of webbing that was cut and burned away probably more recently. You all continue down the stairs to the next floor of the temple.
From the stairwell you can see a massive underground ball. Pillars are evenly placed throughout the hall, supporting the mosaic ceiling overhead. The mosaic is still intact, and although some of the colors have faded, you can make out the images of the gods in their glory. The same mosaic is on the floor, reflecting the images overhead. Although there are no torches, a soft, diffuse tight radiates from the pillars, illuminating the entire chamber. The columns are covered with softly glowing religious symbols. The illumination also reveals the scattered remains of skeletons, both the larger skeletons of ogres and the smaller skeletons of the priests who died defending their temple. Mixed in among the skeletons, you can see large chunks of rubble spread about haphazardly. In addition you find the sliced and bludgeoned body of a decaying corpse of a Khurish man, his scimitar shattered on the ground, his shield broken and his chain shirt tarnished.
Suddenly, from the faint shadows from the far side of the chamber, you hear heavy footsteps. Two tall figures step into the Light. One of the figures is wearing tarnished silver armor, replete with a platinum triangle glowing softly upon the breastplate. The figure appears to be masculine, although carved from stone that seems to be cracked and weathered. A massive sword is gripped in its hands, blazing with a brilliant, pure white light. The other figure is feminine and slightly shorter than the other. She is wearing similarly tarnished silver armor. A blue infinity symbol glows on her breastplate and she grasps a similarly glowing quarterstaff in her hands. As one, the two living statues move forward,
purposefully bringing their weapons to bear as they prepare to confront the intruders to the shrines. What do you do?
They wear the symbols of Quenesti Pah and E'li. They serve as protectors I would think of this holy yet desecrated temple. Turning to the knight Perhaps they will recognize the symbol of the son?
Perhaps they will recognize one who worships the gods of light. Perhaps the servant of the son will be a sign to them that the redemption of the gods of light has come. suggests the wizard.
Alathea retreats back up the stairs a few steps.
"I hope you are correct Terevalis. Gabriel do not get too close if you can help it until you can determine whether they are hostile to all intruders. This will be a difficult fight as I have little abilities of any use against such powerful guardians".
And my spells only really work on the living of which these constructs are not. Perhaps if they see the knight in their light, the light of the Bison of Heaven, it will be to our benefit and advantage. replies the wizard.
Gabriel holds the shield aloft and his other hand raised. He approaches the statues, stoic, and confident.
"By the word of Kiri-Jolith, I am no enemy. Stand down guardians of light. I am Gabriel Lucas Barca knight of Solomnia."
IF this helps on how to control them.
Full Defense just in case: AC 25
Gabriel steps forward showing himself and holy symbol to the guardians. The guardians look at Gabriel and nod acknowledging that he bears the symbol of Kiri-Jolith. The statues move back toward the north double-door with the symbol of the emblazoned sun on the door and take positions to the right and left of the doors that presumably may lead to the main temple and close their eyes and stop glowing taking the form of statues once again. Apparently they can be placated by a holy symbol to the Gods of light.
Anyway Gabriel with your Knowledge religion roll he knows that these animated statues are known as Sacred Guardians. This is divine magic that has not been since before the second cataclysm. Some divine temples have been known to imbue statues with divine power animating them as protectors to a temple. They actually are intelligent but only to a limited degree, at least enough to give a message, bellow warnings and have some combat prowess and tactical knowledge. The divine energy in them also gives them some divine magics as well as the ability to self-repair any damage inflicted on them so long as they are not destroyed.
After the statues have moved back to their rest areas you look around the area. To the east is an open stone door with a plaque of tarnished bronze near the door that says in common "Shrine of the Night". To the west is another stone door that is closed with another bronze plaque "Shrine of the Evening". To the northeast and northwest of this room there appears to be two other doors. And of course straight forward to the north is the double door with the sun symbol on the front. Where do you go?
Since Chemosh is involved perhaps we should first investigate the Shrine of Night. suggests the wizard.
Gabriel turns with a sigh of relief.
"I'm glad the worked. It seems they can be kept at bay with a holy symbol of a god of light. We will need to check all rooms, but I see no reason not to start there Tervalis."
Gabriel walks to the door of the shrine of night and attempts to open it.
Well actually the door to the shrine of the night is wide open so entering it is easy. However when Gabriel steps inside he feels a great presence of evil as this is an unhallowed location although the light of the tree does alleviate the feeling somewhat. Around the room are statues depicting the Gods of Darkness all of them made of solid obsidian that is as smooth as glass and covered with a thick layer of dust. Despite their great age the statues look flawless in appearance. Nutari, Zeboim and Sargonnas are on the eastern wall while Hiddukul, Morigon and Chemosh are on the southern wall. In the middle of the pantheon in the southeast corner is the stature of the Queen of Darkness Takhisis. The stature is in guise of the Dark Mother and staring intently at something on the floor. At the base of the stature is the remains of a massive skeleton with tattered clothing and long rusted away gear. When you look closer at this a spectral flicker occurs.
The door to the shrine slams open as a large ogre limps into the room. The ogre has dark blue skin and white hair marking him as one of the Ogre Magi. Blood flows freely from numerous open wounds on his body. He limps toward the statue of the Dark Queen with eyes filled with mad determination and falls to his knees and bows headfirst toward the statue.
He bellows in "In your name we have brought down this temple of the accursed light...but we have been betrayed."
He then hacks and coughs up a puddle of blood and then looks toward the statue in desperation. "Please my Queen...hear me. Avenge your children. Do not let this slight against your name rest easily."
Suddenly the statue of the Dark Queen begins to move. The face turns to look the Ogre in the eyes and its eyelids open and the statues eyes burn with an unholy fire. The statue speaks with a soothing but somewhat sinister tone to the Ogre, "I have heard your plea my child. I am disappointed with you. You should have anticipated this betrayal but your conceit has blinded you. Thus you will die here like the warriors you have lead to the embrace of death. But I am forgiving and truly love my chosen children. Your death will not go unavenged though the vengeance you seek will not come from my hand."
The Ogre weeping blood falls forward but his head is caught in the hands of the statue. Cradling the Ogre in her harms the Goddess continues to speak, "Now my child, rest. I will ensure that your soul does not fall into the hands of the Betrayer. You shall serve me in the afterlife where you shall atone for your mistakes."
The indigo eyes of the Ogre rolls up in his head and a soft sigh comes from his lips. The statue lowers his body to the floor lying the ogre on his back. A thin tendril of greyish mist comes from the body of the Ogre. The goddess reaches out her hand and grasps it wrapping her fingers tight on the Ogre's soul. The soul vanishes into the statue. She then stands back up and turns a glace to the party and a smile goes over her beautiful ebony face as her burning eyes stare beyond even the barriers of death as though she sees you standing there. She then intones her voice echoing in your ears.
"Yes, vengeance shall not come from my hand, but from yours!"
And with that the images fade and everything is as it was in the room the statue back in its original position.
Shroud blinks and looks around in surprise having also seen the vision and then says, "I thought the Dark Lady was dead? Jabbed by a Dragonlance as far as the stories go. How did she just talk to us now? Anyway I would be careful around here. Ya may not like those baddie gods but making them angry would not make things better for us either."
"What did we just see, so the ogres were betrayed as well? Vengeance with come from you? Was it talking to us? It seemed to be. I have an uneasy feeling from this room. Terevalis do you detect any magic aura's? I'm not sure what else we can gain from this room. I don't like how the statue seemed to be addressing us."
The Dragon Queen indeed was malevolent. If the powers of the artifacts of E'li still have power with his fall perhaps those she blessed do as well? he states as he casts detect magic.
Looking in the room you detect a powerful Evocation aura in this location. More specifically this is under the effect of an Unhallow spell. He also detects there is triggered spell enchanted into the room with a trigger to go off if any of the statures are damaged or destroyed. Anyone who does so gets hit with a Flame Strike. He also detects two magical auras from the remains of the Ogre coming from his hand. On the Ogre's hand you see he has two rings hanging loosely on his bony fingers. There is also some lingering divine energy on the statue of the Dark Queen but definitely not of a recent quality.
He will get the rings and go to the statue of Nuitari and offer a sign of respect.
Terevalis easily takes the rings from the dead Ogre.
Spellcraft
One of the rings is a Ring of Protection +1. The other ring is a Ring of Spell Storing, Minor. Currently the ring has a charge of magic missile (9th level spellcaster).