Sorely injured, Jean-Pierre gamely takes a swing at the creature...
...but his wounds get the better of him.
After some near hits and wide swings "Grim" is able to connect with a solid high jump kick, making the flapping head go a little higher before coming down with a heavy thump.
Now that the monster has been taken care of, the party has the chance to look around. This long chamber is decorated with large carvings of religious ceremonies and priests handing down judgments to the common people. Stone benches are lined up before a podium at the southern end of the room. A single door stands in the northeastern wall.
The carvings on the walls as Pharasmin in nature, though the priests are shown wearing different vestments and accoutrements from those favored today.
Still smarting from the blows that he took, Jean-Pierre takes the time to heal his wounds...
...before turning to explore the room.
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"Hmm..." Burick rubs his scruffy chin as he examines the walls of the room. He suddenly remembers a small tidbit from when he was studying up on other religions.
"This is kind of weird, I remember that Pharasmin worshipers wore different ceremonial clothing than the ones depicted in these carvings. Pontia was right; these are some pretty old ruins if the more recent ceremonial traditions aren't present in the carvings. Either that, or this is some off-shoot sect..."
Jean-Pierre finds nothing in this room.
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Dexter also searches the room...
There must be somethin' worth a damn in this old tomb...
After searching the room, Dexter will listen at the door and check for traps...
He whispers to the group, I wonder why this bugger was banging on the door...I just hope there aren't 20 of these things on the other side.
Dexter hears nothing beyond the wooden door, sees no traps, notices that it is not locked, but it is barricaded from the other side.
Pontia finds nothing of value in the room.
In two hits from Burick's earth breaker, the door breaks down. Darkness floods out of the room, engulfing Pontia's halo and Burick's torch.
Everyone hears "Okdzrd kds ld fn."
Dexter, blinded by the darkness, feels his way toward the nearest wall and says,
Please don't hurt us! We are but lost travelers in need of guidance!
"There is a small humanoid wrapped up in black rags from head to toe, leaving only its pale white nose and hands visible. It is holding its hands out, as if to show that it is not armed and it seems like it just wants to run away. Should we let it?"
"Well, he isn't speaking in a language that I recognise; could you understand what he said?"
Everyone hears him babbling off in his language, with a little clink-jangling sound accompanying it.
"Well, I still can't understand him, but he seems to understand the fact that I cannot understand him. That said, he is clearly offering gold and other minor treasures to be allowed past us... a business transaction that seems to be low risk, and high yield..."
He doesn't understand what is being said, but he understands gestures.
Everyone hears the chinkling of the treasures exchanging hands, then feels the creature trying to squeeze past you and down the hallway, the darkness leaving with him. Now that the darkness is gone, everyone sees religious carvings depicting the judgment of souls cover the walls of this room. A stone pedestal with a bowl-shaped depression on top stands in the northwest corner. Wooden cabinets and chests of drawers line the walls.
Shrugging his shoulders, Jean-Pierre moves forward to investigate the chamber, casting Detect Magic, and doing a sweep of the room .
When Marsk looks at what the creature gave him, he finds engraved ivory bracelet, three freshwater pearls, 27 gp, and 32 sp.
When Jean-Pierre casts detect magic, his attention is turned to one of the cabinets and then to the religious texts. He finds a cloak and two scrolls that are shining with magic. Other than that, he finds some religious accoutrements that the church would pay to have.
Pontia reads that both scrolls are scroll of delay poison but she can't figure out what the cloak is.
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Dexter looks relieved and pleasantly surprised by the Pontia's acquisition!
Fine work, all! At this rate, we may make it out of here alive as well as a bit better off than before we came!
Now, about this next room...did the creature speak of what makes him so afraid? If not, I would suggest we try the other way...
Grimor sees nothing. He can tell though that this pedestal used to hold holy water a long time ago, but it has long since dried up.
As Marsk opens the door, he can see that the theme of judgment in the afterlife is continued in the carvings on the walls of this room. A wide table stands along the north wall, draped with a heavy black cloth. A single candle burns in a tall, iron candlestick in the southwest corner, but the rest of the room is cloaked in shadows. As everyone walks into the room they hear a whispering coming from the table "Stop where you are. If you want to draw back the veil of mystery that cloaks the Godsmouth Ossuary and reveal all the secrets of the Ancients, you must pay me 1 gold piece per question."
"Yes I do. If you give me a gold piece I will tell you."
Pontia can tell that the voice is coming from underneath the table.
"Ooo, a silver piece, you're a real high roller aren't you? Threats don't help pay the fee. Add 9 more silver pieces to that one or I won't deem to give you answers from the fates."
Jean-Pierre looks around, trying to work-out where the voice is coming from...
"Now, now; it is poor business practice to offer payment without some indication that the goods are worth the asking price... Offer some useful piece of information, if you will, as a gesture of good faith..."
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Burick nods to Pontia, readying his weapon again just in case. The creature they had met was strange, though he wish he had the chance to use his Detect Evil when it was still around. As they enter the room and hear the someone speak from the table, Burick quickly activates Detect Evil toward it and under it. If there is something of I'll existence, he would find it.
"Do you know why such dark creatures exist in what should be a holy place?" He holds up a gold coin, ready to pay if the being speaking happened to know.
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Noticing the weirdness of the exchange, Grimor hangs back and keeps quiet, using the time to look for this creature's means for senses.
Warily, he approaches the altar, pulls out two gold pieces letting it glint in from the candle light and asks, "Who are you and how do we know you're not lying just to get our gold?"
"Hmmm...free, useful information...Ohmmmmm. The spirits tell me that you are here to help the church with the disappearing undead. You need to look for the necromancer." she responds to Jean-Pierre.
Burick does not feel any evil auras from underneath or near the table. "Why else? The church wants to keep whatever is most evil under lock and key and out of the public eye. Do you see a lot of people down here? No you don't. The church is keeping the public safe."
"I, Yrix the great naga oracle, would never lie to get gold." she responds to Grimor.
Jean-Pierre smiles faintly.
"Actually, it is disappearing corpses, not disappearing undead, that is the problem; I seriously doubt that the Church would be worried if undead were disappearing..."
"Oh, they must not know about that yet. Oh well, hopefully they wandered deeper and you won't have to deal with them..." she trailed off.
"I prefer to stay hidden. My appearance tends to be disconcerting to others, and I can't consult the spirits in sight of others."