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Bitey will quietly bite a fly if he can reach one.
Spinning the starknife in hand to readjust her grip, Zora leaps forward to slash at one of the large bugs.
Iolaire steps back, trying to bring her glaive to bear on the over-sized insects.
With a fly in his face, Balthasar lets out a wordless cry as he strikes at the vermin.
Thrall finds the situation a good way to practice, and keeps trying to down one of the flies.
Giant maggots and now giant flies? What is this place we have fallen? Aria thinks to herself. As the flies descend on her group, she quickly pushes this thought from her mind and draws back her bow. She takes aim at one of the creatures and lets loose an arrow.
The adventurers do capitalize very well on the fly's mistakes and the giant bugs are easily cut down.
You enter an antechamber before the main chapel itself. A stone bench lines the southern wall of this chamber. At the far side of the room, a basin of water sits atop a stone pedestal. A stone door engraved with an image of a hammer stands to the north.
Anevia's face is a barely maintained mask by this time and she limps over to the bench. Oww.. My leg.
Horgus mutters, You're just slowing us down. We should... split up. Clearly implying that she should be left to her fate.
Anevia explodes, Well I'm not suprised that a man who's afraid to acknowledge his own faith would be unmoved by a forgotten temple like this! Being ashamed of your faith is just as bad as worshiping demons, you know!
Horgus takes a step back, clearly surprised by this outburst. He immediately settles back into snide confidence and sneers, I will not listen to lectures from someone who is KNOWN to consort with THEIVES.
Anevia sits back and her face drops into a black silence, her eyes fixed on Horgus.
"Calm down." Serena said firmly, deciding to put her charm to use.
"Nobody is getting left behind just because they're hurt. These caves can't be all that big, and we have plenty of supplies." After a moment, "Besides, did you see the scale of the attack above? Going a bit slower and waiting for things to clear a bit might actually be safer than rushing through."
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"Besides, did you see the scale of the attack above? Going a bit slower and waiting for things to clear a bit might actually be safer than rushing through."
"The dangers in the city, I believe, is the very reason that we should press on," the brawler responds. "I agree though, Serena. We're not leaving anyone behind. I say we rest here for a while, but not too long. Maybe the Father of Dwarvenkind left something to aid us."
Vance begins to look around the temple.
Balthasar sighs as Horgus and Anevia have a small spat. First Aravashnial, now Anevia...Horgus seems to have disputes with several people. Of course, Anevia and Aravashnial could have bad blood between them, and they just haven't aired it out yet. I really hope they don't bicker the whole way.
Narrowing his eyes at Anevia's feigning that her leg was what was bothering her, Balthasar first decides to address Horgus. "Lord Gwerm, the truth is, splitting up would likely be fatal to whoever separated from the group. We barely know where we are going, and this is at least an enclosed structure we might be able to easily defend. Moving at a slower pace is actually safer, in some respects - rushing ahead could result in rushing into danger. Taking a little more time hopefully allows us to identify threats before we encounter them, and that will increase everyone's chance of surviving to the surface."
Moving over to Anevia, Balthasar takes a seat next to her and quietly says, "Something is bothering you besides your leg - I know how to read people somewhat. If you feel comfortable doing so, you can feel free to talk about it with me, or anyone else you prefer - Iolaire, as a servant of Shelyn, may be a particularly good choice. I won't press you - and I doubt the others will as well."
Zora stands just inside the room, not going any further than necessary. "I believe we shouldn't linger any longer than we need to as well," she says, uncomfortable here.
When Horgus snipes at Anevia for associating with thieves, Zora glares at him and mentally marks him as a potential target next time. "I'd trust a thief before a cleric anyday, so don't act like that makes you better," Zora states.
Bitey rubs his big head against Zoranda's leg in a close approximation of an upset hound. "Why all them fighting? They fight each other and new cave tribe gonna die. Maybe we better off without them? Go find newer new tribe in down down depths, Bitey become king of deep deep depths and make sure sure Zo Zo smell like fur safe like queen." The little goblin thinks for a second and then makes an odd face you have not seen him make before. "But not be Bitey queen, no no no, not Bitey queen at all. Too tall smell like fur not be pretty like goblin girl with big pretty teeth nope. Zo Zo head too small and not green color not make Bitey want Zo Zo dat way. Sorry Zo Zo, Bitey think we just be friends KK. You understand yes? You still good person and all."
Can't read the mood to save his life, Zora thinks, smiling a little. "That's okay, Bitey. I understand."
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Arianna moved up beside Zoranda still holding her dagger in her hand and glanced down at the little goblin. "Well Zoranda if things keep going like this at least you can be queen of your own little tribe." She slowly moved to the door leading deeper into the chapel beyond and would quietly inspect the door itself, searching for any sign of traps or how this door might be opened.
"Let's at least secure this as a shelter, then we can decide how we wish to proceed." She suggested
Hearing a lot of nonsense on all sides, Thrall decides to not answer and solve the problem once and for all. He walks to Anevia and Balthasar and waits for the woman to say what's wrong with her.
Horgus seems satisfied with the party's rebuttal, but huffs anyway and walks out of earshot.
Anevia watches him go then says, My wife is a high ranking member of the Eagle Watch. She was on duty today. Seeing a temple such as this abandoned... After a moment she takes a deep, shuddering breath and you realize that's as far as she can go right now.
The door to the temple beyond is untrapped.
Balthasar nods. "I understand. My unit was on duty as well - I don't know if any of my comrades-in-arms survived, to say nothing of my family in Kenabres." Balthasar takes a deep breath - his mother and sister had intended to go to the opening speech, though he hadn't seen them in the square. "We'll get back to the surface, and hopefully find the gods have sheltered those we love. Until then, all we can do is pray, and hope."
Leaving Anevia to her thoughts, Balthasar motions Thrall to accompany him and walks over to the doors. "Well, Anna, if you think it safe to do so, we can get the doors open and proceed further in."
Bitey runs up to the noble and starts yanking at his sleeve. "Come come come, no fight fight, no worries. We need you with us. Not need you wander off and die in dark dark caves. We protect noble man so he can continue be noble man, yes yes. You good noble man so can be more noble not fight. Nothing to prove yes yes, maybe teach Bitey how be half as noble as you? Please please please, Half as noble so Bitey be second most noble here."
As the others moved forward, Serena stayed back with Aravashnial to help him inside. If nothing else, the inside of the temple would probably be a secure place to wait for a little bit, and it was better than leaving the blind elf exposed while everyone else's attention was elsewhere.
Thrall goes away with Balthasar, as he signaled, and leaves Anevia. He cannot, sadly, alleviate hurts of the soul.
Standing in front of the door, he's only waiting for a sign to try to open it.
Horgus looks down at the... thing... tugging on him. He seems simultaneously repulsed and oddly flattered by the goblin(?)'s request. He looks around awkwardly for a moment. You want to be noble? His tone clearly implies that such a thing as a noble goblin has never entered his mind, but Bitey probably won't notice.
Anevia slowly pulls herself together. The thought of a noble goblin tutored in the art of high society by Horgus seems to help greatly. Thankyou, everyone. I think I'm ok. For now.
What's left of Aravashnial's eyebrows go sky high when he hears Bitey's proposal and he mostly succeeds in holding in a gut busting laugh. Mostly.
Vance, Thrall, and Balthasar stack up on the door. This one is not as stuck as the last, and opens easily.
Broken stone benches line this narrow room. The air is cold and stale, and thick layers of dust cover the floor, benches, and a large altar at the far end of the room.
Behind the altar three figures kneel before a huge symbol of a hammer. It seems odd that they wouldn't have disturbed the dust, but there they are.
Balthasar looks at the others, then whispers, "I don't want to disturb them if they're in prayer, but perhaps we should say something?"
Bitey creeps up to the praying figures by the altar while Balthasar and Zoranda are otherwise distracted.
If he gets there unnoticed... "Hey, my name is Bitey. What you do pray for? You lose something need found? I find most things I lose in the oddest places, maybe we help you look yes no?"
Thrall tries to concentrate on the prayers and discern if everything is going as it should be.
The three dwarves all rise slowly, as if they've been there a while. The whole place smells vaguely of rot and decay, but the dwarves look fine. They all three look shocked to see a goblin in their midst and they stumble back ward to get away.
Wha... How did you get in here! the one in the middle (presumably the leader) shouts.
Iolaire, walking with the rest, shivers at the sight. "This can't be good. Look - nothing in the dust. I think they're dead - they must have been here for years. What happened here?" Too late she sees Bitey going forward and hurries after him.
"Bitey - be careful, they're not people!"
Thrall tries to concentrate on the prayers and discern if everything is going as it should be.
[dice=Kn Religion, Guidance]1d20+4+1
Balthasar looks at the dust, untouched before Bitey and Iolaire had run through it. Then at the Dwarves. "Iolaire, they look like normal Dwarves. I'm sure there's an explanation for why the dust was untouched, but let's not call them dead just because of it." Still, Balthasar keeps his shield and sword at the ready. "How did you come to be down here? We thought this temple abandoned."
Hearing Bitey begin to speak to someone new, Zora moves to the inner doorway, worried. Sure enough, Bitey had found some dwarves, one of the few races that would ever accept a turned goblin. "Bitey. Get back here now."
Thrall takes a few casual steps towards the dwarves while talking. "Uh, sorry to interrupt your rites, we just wanted to... PURGE YOU!"
Then he immediately charges the closest dwarf.
"What are you-" Were the dwarf guys enemies? From her place in the back with Aravashnial, it was hard to tell. If they weren't... she glanced down at her hand. Well, she knew one way to put down people who were a problem.
Thrall barrels across the room in the blink of an eye and splatters one of the priests across the back wall! Just as he does you all see an illusion pop out of existence revealing dessicated flesh and tattered robes. The other two scream, but not in terror! They attack Thrall and Bitey!
That... answered that question.
"There's a couple of, uh, undead creatures." she explained to Aravashnial, not well-versed enough to actually identify them. "I don't think they're a serious threat."
Really, though... undead, maggots, flies... her preferred magic wasn't much use down here, huh?
I knew it. Never safe. Rushing forward, Zora gets as close as she can to the...thing attacking Bitey and slashes at it with her starknife.
Bitey stares as the illusion breaks. "Why you swing at Bitey, Bitey just want be friends." Bitey looks hurt by the turn of events, not noticing that his friends had started the fight. As the undead creature pulls back for another swing, Bitey lunges for the dwarf's leg and begins gnawing on dedicated flesh.
Bitey's nose wrinkles as he bounces back from the bite. "Ewww, old dwarf taste like sadness and stank."
I was right - why did I have to be right? Iolaire doesn't spend long on introspection however, lashing out over Bitey's head with her glaive she aims to take off an arm.
"You'll regret defiling this holy place!"
Balthasar curses as the dwarves turn out to be some kind of undead. "Iolaire, if I ever doubt you about whether the creatures are undead again, please remind me of this incident!"
"What sort of hell have we fallen into? Giant maggots and flies and now dwarves that turn into the undead" Aria mutters to herself while siting down her bow, waiting to see if any of the beasts survive.
The rest of the party works together as Trall wreaks terrible havoc on the third and brings his greatsword around with such force that the undead's head explodes like an overripe melon. Brains and bone go everywhere! Meanwhile, the others barely manage to take the think down before it can do real damage. One of them does take a swipe at Arianna as she tumbles by, but misses. Normal weapons, including Bitey's teeth, seem to do less than normal damage against their rotting flesh, but it comes down all the same.
"I guess we could return this temple to its original holy status, though I'm too new in these things to know the proper way."