Feral's Temple (Inactive)

Game Master Feral

The terrified gnome shrugs. "I don't know. It's in the food. Check it for yourself!"

"Hmm..." muses Taklinn as he continues to stare down the gnome. "So why ain't ye drugged then? Why is Dakang allowing ye to keep yer wits about ye when it's so important that everybody else be in a stupor?".

The gnome shrugs again. ”Probably because I don’t care about this Korada guy.”

Sorry for my absence!

"Presumedly because the gnome enjoys devising cruel 'rituals' like that turtle over there," Liadain notes with a frown.

"The cook, however, seems to be in on the plan, if they are allowing Dakang to drug the worshippers here. Perhaps we can pay them a visit and convince them to illuminate things."

"That makes sense, Lia, and I agree we should pay the cook a visit" responds Terrill. "But I still want to know a couple of things." He turns his glare back on the gnome and says, "Why do you want people to stick their hands in the turtles mouth and get stuck with whatever's on those needles? Why are you even here?"

"Hang on a second here. One minute, ye call yerself a pilgrim and the next minute, ye say ye don't care about Korada. Ye're lying about somethin' boy, and ye don't wanna know what I do with liars. Now out with the truth, boy, or it's gonna be yer hand I'll be shovin' in that snapper's mouth!"

The gnome looks on the verge of panic due to the dwarf's erratic behaivor. "Yes, I lied about being a pilgrim. I thought that was obvious! I stopped by just to see what was going on and when I saw how gullible everyone was here, I decided to stick around and wreck some havoc."

Gastigem shakes his head at Terrill's deduction. "No cooks. The folks here live on fruits and veggies. The tables in the refectory are enchanted. The food gets poisoned there."

Castien nods. "That's good to know. So, what happens now? You know our intentions, and I see no reason you wouldn't run to Dakang at the earliest convenience and warn him. How do you suggest we guarantee your silence?" He grins and fingers his bow.

The gnome squirms again. "Uh, I'll leave! I'll go as far from this place as you'd like. I'll never come back!"

Sense Motive: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (14) + 1 = 15

He seems sincerely terrified.

Terrified people can still be liars. Anyone else want to take a whack at it?

Castien, not wanting to kill anyone in cold blood, looks to the rest of the group. "I suggest that we perform our final task and take care of this matter once and for all. In addition, I suggest that you," he says, looking at the gnome, "stay in this garden until our business is finished, at which point you will leave and never darken the door of this temple again. If anyone has a better solution, let's have it." With that, he begins their final task, sketching the gardens' layout.

It takes the better part of an hour but Castien gets a good sketch of the garden.

Terrill nods in agreement with Castien. As the elf sets to work sketching the gardens, Terrill makes sure the gnome won't be going anywhere. "We have no reason to hurt you," he says. "And we haven't done you any harm, even after you tried to get us to stick our hands in that turtle's mouth. So you're going to do as my friend here said - stay right here, until we leave the temple. Then you leave this place, just like you offered. But if you leave before then...well, I'm pretty good at finding people who don't want to be found. And you really won't want to be found, at that point." Terrill looks around the garden a moment, then continues, "So you just stay here, tend the garden, chew your leaf, and go on your way once we've gone. Got it?"

Intimidate: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (6) + 6 = 12 Ooh, scary.

Once Castien has finished sketching, Terrill says to the party, "Let's head to the far side of the temple, which should be where the kitchens are. See what we can sort out about the drugged food and any more clues about Dakang." With that, he looks for an entrance into the chapel from the garden. If he doesn't find one, he heads back the way they entered, and goes past the library and heads to the south side of the temple.

The gnome's eyes grow wide and he nods in silent agreement.

You get +4 for being bigger than him!

It's not difficult to find the refectory as men and women are visibly passing in and out of it as the party approaches the southern part of the temple. Within, a massive slab of darkwood is piled high with a bounty of simple vegetarian fare. An older woman says a short prayer before the ten worshipers about to enjoy the fruits, grains, nuts, and juices they've chosen.

Terrill approaches the worshipers as they're about to eat, saying, "Do you know your food is drugged? This table that it's served on, it changes the food, it changes you!"

His eyes move about the kitchen, as if seeking something, and he asks, "Is there any food that hasn't been set on this table? Try eating that instead of the food you were about to eat, and see if you feel any different."

Diplomacy: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (1) + 4 = 5 Uh, +4 for being the same size as them?

"I don't think they're going to listen to you," Liadain murmurs to Terrill. "The drugs, you know?"

"Does that woman have evil in her heart, Terrill?"

"I expect you're right, Lia, but I had to try something," responds Terrill. He then turns his attention to the woman offering the prayer, focusing on whether she radiates evil to his finely-tuned senses.

Terrill detects no evil.

Liadain looks closely at the worshippers that are about to eat; do they seem to be drugged already?

They seem to exhibit many of the same signs that the aasimar did.

Did they react at all what Terrill said to them?

The assembled worshipers look at the rude half elf with disinterest before enjoying their meal.

"Well, if they're already drugged, we can't talk 'em into believing it," Terrill says to his companions. "We need to convince them a little more forcefully, or we move on. I say we look around a bit more."

I assume we haven't quite made it to the SW corner of the temple, that the kitchen doesn't fill all that space? If that's so, we'll move on and see what else is in this part of the temple.

South of the mess hall is the kitchen. West is the quarters for folks that live here.

Oh and before we leave... I'll cast detect magic on the table with the food on it. No Knowledge (Arcana) or Spellcraft though.

Liadain definitely detects magic.

Terrill walks into the kitchen for a quick look around. If he doesn't find anything of interest, he'll move west with the party, to the quarters of the temple residents

Castien nods to Terrill. "I agree. However, let's assume for the moment that Dakang is the real threat here, and not deal too harshly with the other worshipers unless we're forced to."

"I agree with you, Castien," responds Terrill. "I'd like to find some evidence that will convince them what's happened. Maybe we could show them the books we found, that had been altered? And you could explain what the symbol that Dakang uses stands for? Though they don't seem very interested in what we have to say."

Castien shakes his head. "Considering their response to your accusations just now, I doubt any of these people would be capable of listening to reason. Still, let's keep that evidence in reserve, in case anyone tries to keep us from resolving this situation."

The temple kitchen is long abandoned and smells faintly musty. The kitchen’s massive stove and rows of cooking implements are all covered with a patina of rust and dark flecks of mold. Dangling in the center of the room, above a solid oak table, swings a halfling man on a stout cord.

When Terrill pokes his head in the kitchen, something presses on his thoughts...

Will save.

Will save: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (9) + 6 = 15

Terrill stares in horror at the halfling hanging from the ceiling.

Terrill's eyes lock on a rusty kitchen knife laying on the countertop but he fights off the urge to drive it into his own chest...

Terrill holds up a hand to his companions, saying, "Stop! Don't come in the kitchen. There's some foul magic at work here!" He steps back through the door and describes what he's seen, and what he nearly felt compelled to do.

"I don't think we should go in there, unless one of you feels strongly that we should investigate, and perhaps cut that poor little fellow down."

Seeing the horror on Terrill's face, Liadain offers a steadying hand to the half-elf, patting him on the shoulder while he recovers from the sight. "Sounds awful," she says with a sad shake of her head. "I suppose we now know why the worshippers are vegetarians."

"More seriously though," she continues, "I believe this may be some kind of haunted area. I have seen them once before during my initiation into the Society - a dank well where the poor soul at the bottom had languished for centuries. There may be some way to put this halfling to rest, although re-entering the kitchen will certainly be dangerous."

If this is a haunt as I suspect... well, since none of us can channel energy, and I have no idea how you find out the other weaknesses of a haunt (Kn. Religion?), we might not be able to do much. I think you can blast them with cure spells to destroy them?

Religion will do it.

Terrill shakes his head slowly at Lia's joke, his expression somewhere between a grin and a grimace on his face. He considers saying something about the appeal of well-aged meat, but the horror of the situation, and the urge he had to drive that rusty old knife into himself, cause him to reconsider.

Knowledge (religion: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (20) + 3 = 23

Terrill does in fact recognize the phenomenon as a suicide haunt - a kind of localized undead spirit. He also knows that though it can be suppressed with channeled positive energy, it can only be truly destroyed by removing whatever corrupting taint created it in the first place.

"Based on what I know of these things, the only way to really deal with them - and make it safe for others to enter that room - is to destroy whatever caused the corruption in the first place." Terrill nods in the direction of the hallway, where they met the aasimar guards, and continues, "Which means we have to get around, over or through the three handsome fellows and find Dakang, I'm guessing. He's for sure the source of corruption in this place. Let's go see, shall we?"

He heads back to the hallway where they last saw the aasimar guards.

Returning to the western hallway, the group finds the aasimar still on guard.

One of them, a woman, greets the party with a warm smile.

Castien thinks a moment on the nature of the haunt. "It seems to me that the halfling committed suicide, and you had an urge to do the same. Would it not follow reason to assume that we might deal with the haunt by giving the halfling a proper burial?"

Taklinn looks to Castien and replies "Bah! It be a sad thing what happened to the runt, but I'm not fer fightin' somethin' I can't hit. The best thing we can do fer him now would be to avenge him."

"Part of me wishes to at least provide the halfling with a more dignified burial," Liadain says with a perplexed expression, "but part of me also agrees with Taklinn and Terrill - that the source of this corruption is likely to be Dakang himself. Perhaps we can come back later to aid the poor fellow."

"Castien, what say you? If you wish to help the halfling now, I will assist you."

Castien shakes his head. "Taklinn has a valid point; we've precious little with which to fight this spirit. Let us deal with Dakang and hope that helps. However, if it does not, I ask that we return and bury that corpse in an attempt to deal with this spirit."

Liadain nods. "Fair enough. I think that's probably the wisest decision. But in the meantime... we have to get past those aasimar guards."

She hurries down the temple's corridors after Terrill, reaching the friendly-faced angelic humanoids shortly thereafter. The bard pauses momentarily to catch her breath, but then strides forward with a confident gait. She glances back once at her companions, mouthing Back me up!, before approaching the other aasimar.

"My friends, hello again!" she greets the guards with a deep and flowing bow. "I understand that Master Dakang has requested you stop anyone from entering his quarters, but if you would please lend us your ears for a moment, we really, really must speak with him."

"This is your home, your temple - I understand you are loathe to believe there is anything ill afoot in this place. But I assure you, there is evil afoot, and you yourselves have been drugged to overlook it! We truly fear that Dakang is involved, and all that live here are in grave danger."

"In the gardens, a place that should be well-kept and beautiful, lies overgrown. A horrible gnome lingers there, viciously twisting the words of Korada - he has set a trap inside the turtle statue to harm any he convinces to stick his hand inside. He tends not to the flowers, but to the sadistic tendencies in his heart. By his own admission, he cares not for Korada!"

"In the kitchens, we saw a horrible sight - a poor halfling has ended his life prematurely, and his spirit still haunts the place. My friend here," she nods to Terrill, "felt the malevolence touch upon his mind when he entered. We wish to end the corruption and put his soul to rest."

"And in the catacombs? The worshippers of this place have come alive - if one could call it that! They had been awoken from their repose by some foul being and animated by necromantic magics! In this place of serenity, surely such a thing could not happen without evil worming its way in to the very core!"

"Please, I beg of you. Let us pass, for we must see that this place is cleansed. I would not be able to live if the people here were left at the mercy of evil."

Diplomacy: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (20) + 10 = 30 Aw yeah!

The aasimar look to each other in shock and horror as Liadain speaks. When she's done they sharing a knowing glace with one another before nodding.

"We have noticed things as amiss but our minds have been in such a fog these past few months... It becomes hard to tell what is right and wrong at times. If Dakang is corrupting Korada's holy teachings, he must be stopped. Please come with us."

The aasimar woman leads the party toward the temple's center.

Terrill is very impressed by Lia's presentation of the situation to the guard, and very pleased with the outcome. He nods appreciatively at the talented bard, and follows behind the aasimar as she leads them along.

Very nice post, Alice.

The aasimars lead the party back into the gardens where a certain doing everything in his power to be unseen.

The female approaches the dried up fountain and touches it gently. "If Dakang is truely behind the strange things occurring around the temple and you cannot talk him down, this might help you."

A moment later the basin fills with crystalline clear water. "Douse your weapons."