Maria rushes forward after Jack, though she can't move as quickly in her bulky armor.
Cedric follows behind the others, having learned to rely on them in a pinch, since he was not the most powerful of combatants.
Lazar calls for Pharasma's intervention, disappearing from sight and running for cover with the rest of the group.
One bolt hit Jack as the Werewolf archers focus on the nearest. Then they drop their crossbows and draw their great swords, moving to block anyone reaching the shrine they guard.
What are you doing now?
Catching sight of four werewolves just waiting for him at the top of the stairs, "You gotta be freaking kidding me," he mumbles under his breath. He looks behind him and sees Maria and thinks to himself, That'll work. I'd just get myself killed. He then turns and heads back the way he came, past Maria. "Alright, milady, far be it from me to steal your thunder. I'm going to let you have the first crack at 'em. And you're welcome! think nothing of it." he says with a confident nod.
Maria grins wickedly at Jack as he steps back. "What a gentleman." Then she crouches low as she rushes up the stairs, drawing her falchion as she moves with magical speed and strikes hard at the first werewolf in her reach.
Profitting from his state of invisibility, Lazar climbs the stairs, hoping to get close enough for a sweet spot from where to rain arrows on the werewolves.
Cedric places himself between Maria and Jack, he raises his crossbow and lets fly a bolt.
Maria charges up and hits Orange hard!
Cedric clips Orange singeing him slightly.
Gadren double moves.
Orange howls and swing back at Maria.
Yellow steps over and joins in the attack.
The party may now act
Jack heads back toward Maria, taking a swipe at the only werewolf he can reach.
Missing horribly, "Well that sucked. It's okay. I got a different plan. You're about to die, wolfies!"
Jack hits, but his blade slides off without harming the Werewolf.
Realising this could be a mistake, Lazar keeps climbing up stairs while shouting. "We seek an end to the Whispering Way!"
"Yes it's rather hard to talk when you shoot at us. If you persist we'll have to assume you are under their sway and remove you from the situation!" Richard adds his voice to the call for peace and for now sticks to a decidedly non lethal spell.
Maria pauses for just one second to see if these creatures she thought were evil are willing to cooperate.
All three Werewolves at the top of the stairs howl as they are blinded, "None may enter the Temple!" Green growls in fury.
What are you doing?
The way is already in the temple. I am sure of it. Why must we not enter? We seek to help, or do you believe your new soon to be chief of clans won his duel honorably?
"We only want to enter to purge the evil of the Whispering Way. Then we'll leave you in peace. We promise."
Maria growls "Let us purge the evil of the Whispering Way or be purged with them."
Jack decides to add his two coin in as well. "It basically comes down to this, wolfies: Do you want to live or do you want to die? Now me personally, seems like an easy call. But," he shrugs, "I'm not a werewolf, so... Oh wait! Yes, I am actually. Just not yet. Soon to be, I think. Well, unless my friend here has a cure which I think he does. Anyway... I digress. Life, death, just hurry and choose so we can move on. We seriously don't have all day."
"We're here to fight the Whispering Way and given that I've temporarily blinded three of you I think you can see we're not afraid to fight dirty if the situation calls for it!"
Green is enraged by your words and howls, "They threaten Mathus. Kill them! Rushing over and swinging his greatsword at Maria awkwardly from the side of the stairway.
The party may now act. All the Werewolves except Green are blind this round.
"We're killing the right werewolves then!" Gadren casts haste on him and his allies to better allow them capitalize on the werewolves temporary blindness.
When making a full attack action, a hasted creature may make one extra attack with one natural or manufactured weapon. The attack is made using the creature’s full base attack bonus, plus any modifiers appropriate to the situation. (This effect is not cumulative with similar effects, such as that provided by a speed weapon, nor does it actually grant an extra action, so you can’t use it to cast a second spell or otherwise take an extra action in the round.)
A hasted creature gains a +1 bonus on attack rolls and a +1 dodge bonus to AC and Reflex saves. Any condition that makes you lose your Dexterity bonus to Armor Class (if any) also makes you lose dodge bonuses.
All of the hasted creature’s modes of movement (including land movement, burrow, climb, fly, and swim) increase by 30 feet, to a maximum of twice the subject’s normal speed using that form of movement. This increase counts as an enhancement bonus, and it affects the creature’s jumping distance as normal for increased speed. Multiple haste effects don’t stack. Haste dispels and counters slow.
Jack grins wryly. "Sah-weet! You heard the man! Time to die, wolfies!" He then attempts to move in between and past the werewolves.
Jack sees a minute opening between a pair of the werewolves and decides to take a gamble and tumbles through. Managing to just squeeze through as he rolls and comes up standing, he finds himself placed as plan and grins smugly. "Looking for me, wolf-ee?" he says, waggling his eyebrows at his 'clever' rhyme as he takes a stab at it.
Jack Slips between two Werewolves and cuts Green slightly.
Maria takes a 5' step onto the floor and cuts at Red.
Badly wounding Red.
Lazar & Cedric your actions please.
Once the werewolves state clear they've joined the wrong side, Lzar sees no point in talking anymore, and thus resumes his usual fighting technique: overwhelm the enemy with arrows .
Cedric smiles and sighs.
That settles that then. Cedric reloads and fires his crossbow again.
Green slashes at Gadren.
Hitting hard.
Red's vision clears and it claws at Maria
Yellow is still blind and flails at Jack
Missing.
The party may now act.
Seeing Gadren get hit hard, Jack glares at the werewolf as he attacks with an even greater purpose.
Lazar notices his arrows don't go as deep as he would have wanted, so he uses one of his tricks this time.
Green is finished off by Jack & Lazar.
Maria ends Red.
What are you doing now?
Taking a deep breath, "Well alright! That was easy," he jokes, grinning. Finding no one else smiling, "SO! where to now?" he quickly asks and doesn't hesitate to make his way over toward the center of the building. "Hey! Looks like we got stairs over here. We got ourselves a way in, folks." Looking back toward the others, he catches sight of Cedric way down below still. Cupping his hands around his mouth so as to project better, "HEY, CED! SOME OF US COULD USE A BANDAGE OR TWO BEFORE WE HEAD DOWN THESE STAIRS! OL' BEAN TOOK A NASTY CUT FROM A WOLFIE AND COULD REALLY USE YOUR HELP! THANKS, BUDDY! WE'LL WAIT!" He then lowers his hands and crosses his arms, awaiting the intrepid healer.
A crossbow bolt flies over Jack's head as he finishes and he sees a smirk on Cedric as he comes up the steps before letting a wave of golden light extend to everyone.
Catching sight of the bolt in the nick of time, Jack quickly dodges as he just manages to avoid the missile. Panicking, he quickly looks behind him and around, wondering who he was firing at. "Where was he going with that?!" he asks himself as he looks back toward the cleric and catches a wry grin. You gotta be kidding me, he thinks to himself as he can only shake his head. Visibly irritated, You know, that is sooooo not funny. So not funny. He could've taken my eye out or something. MAN that is not funny. I know who I'm eating first when I become a wolfie. He then draws his hands down his face in frustration before placing them on his side and taking a deep breath through the nose. Shaking his head again, Crap I wish I would've thought of that.
You have a short set of stairs down and a passageway leading to two doors.
What are you doing now?
"So what? Left or right?" While awaiting for an answer from his comrades, Lamar looks for trails that might give them a clue.
Jack cuts his eyes from one door to the other multiple times before finally deciding, "We go right." He then moves up to check if it's locked and/or trapped.
Lazar can see the signs that someone dragged themselves into room E2 in the last few weeks.
Neither door is trapped or locked.
What are you doing now?
Jack raises an eyebrow in interest at Lazar's find. "Did they now? Looks like we go left instead then. And here's hoping they're still not in there or the fetid we encounter in this investigation is going to be real bad." Jack then opens the door wide, yet carefully, and peers in.
Lazar shrugs. Not having enough information, any for could be dangerous, so he doesn't really have an opinion on each one to open.
E2. Dormitory
The small iron portcullis that once blocked the entrance to this room has been bent to the side, allowing access to what lies beyond. The chamber might once have been some sort of private quarters, though no furnishings remain. Dirt and dust across lie tracked across the floor, and the pungent stench of rot ebbs from the room.
Werewolves staying at the temple sometimes use this area as a den. A DC 14 Perception check reveals numerous tracks of humans, wolves, and hybrid werewolves. The smell of rot comes from a human corpse lying in a crumpled heap in the corner.
Treasure: One of the Whispering Way’s agents was mortally wounded during the cult’s attack on the Stairs, and she dragged herself here before she succumbed to her wounds.
A search of the corpse reveals a plain iron ring etched with strange symbols still wrapped around her pallid finger; the etchings are identifiable with a DC 20 Knowledge (religion) check as symbols of the Whispering Way.
The body also clutches a leather satchel containing a number of onyx gemstones ranging in value from 50 to 200 gp each. In total, these gemstones are worth 1,000 gp. A DC 20 Knowledge (arcana) check recognizes the onyxes as material components for the animate dead spell.
Lastly, the corpse carries a map of Ustalav with several coordinates
scrawled on the back. A DC 15 Knowledge (geography) check is needed to identify each of the coordinates—the towns of Ravengro and Lepidstadt, a location near Ascanor Lodge (likely the Stairs of the Moon), and the ghost town of Feldgrau in the Furrows of Ardeal.
What are you doing now?
Cringing his face in disgust as he immediately covers his nose, "Ugh! Why did I know we were going to find a dead body in here?" he asks rhetorically. "Man that is bad. And seeing how there's nothing really in here except for the body, I'm going to step back outside and let you all figure out what it was that killed them. You're welcome," he says, giving a nod as he moves back outside where there is fresh air. Lots and lots of fresh air.
"I haven't been hit like that in quite a few years. Last time would have been from a half ogre on the Nirmathras border. Still Cedric healed me quickly enough now let me see..."
"So aside from this delightful body, lots of humanoid, canine and hybrid form tracks. The Iron Ring on her finger has markings confirming her as a member of the Whispering Way. Her satchel contains a number of gemstones of decent value. They're a common component in necromancy spells to animate corpses. I think they'd be better served sold to a jeweller to finance a stay at an inn." Gadren searches the corpses belongings first finding the onyx and then examining a map.
"A map of Ustalav. There are co ordinates noted on the back. I'd say Ravengro, Lepidstadt, the Stairs of the Moon where we stand and... Feldgrau in the Furrows of Ardeal. Something of a ghost town if I recall correctly."
Jack listens in as he remains just outside the door. "Feldgrau?" he asks, a curious look about him. "Never heard of that place. Which leaves one to wonder why should have a map of it. It's got to mean something, wouldn't you think?"
Feldgrau
Toward the end of Barstoi’s forced occupation of Ardeal almost 2 decades ago, Count Aericnein Neska’s troops spent a night in the small town of Feldgrau. When they pulled out the next morning, they repaid the town for its hospitality by butchering its citizens and putting
Feldgrau to the torch. The soldiers disposed of the bodies in a single mass grave in the center of the town square. Feldgrau became a literal ghost town overnight, and the souls of Feldgrau’s slaughtered citizens now haunt its streets and ruined buildings.
Having found all there is to discover in the small, stinking room you move across the the opposite door.
E3. Trapped Dormitory
This room may once have served as some sort of private quarters. Only a few pieces of rusted metal furniture remain, the rest having long rotted away. The dirt has been swept clear from most of the floor, exposing the flagstones beneath.
Perception checks please
Jack moves into the other room, looking around for anything that might prove of interest.
Lazar tries not to make much noise. Even if his comrades do, and a combat begins, he might benefit from not being noticed.