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"Gah! I didn't expect them to hunker down so.." Ansel grumbles as he resigns to triggering his wand to pop out of the sheath and casts more missiles . Still getting a feel for combat casting and seeing everyone troubled by their placement outside of the room's door, he mulls over what else he could have done in only the few moments.
Vala successfully tumbles past the Serpentfolk, avoiding their bites and comes back with a vicious stab herself, killing her target.
Agriver
Robin
Ayame
Ansel
Rboud
- Bold May act
Robin
Serpentfolk
Ayame
Vala
Ansel
Yon
Rboud
Agriver
Ansel's magic missile drops the last guard into a bloody heap.
The guards were carrying masterwork heavy maces. The prisoner in the cell appears delirious and mutters endlessly, but does respond to questions.
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"Galdrastyrkur spjót!" the dwarfs voice fills the room.
Looking around the cells, Ansel shifts uneasily in his gear, "Not as nice as down the hall m'fraid." He then searches for sources of magic.
Lastly he cautiously inspects the injured serpentfolk from a distance. "What were they doing to ye buddy?" he mumbles to himself.
The party finds nothing else of value in the jail.
When addressed, the prisoner calls out.. "I have given myself to you, Kro’akoth! Ydersius is a living corpse and not fit for worship. Not like you, my lord and master! Give me freedom and I will fight in your name!”
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Ansel looks to Robin a little confused, "The Awakener, Kro'akoth.. demon lord known to desire serpentfolk worshippers... those trogs carried his holy symbols and the foyer held a transcription welcoming his scaled brethren.. have we been exploring the same rooms?" Ansel momentarily searches for any aura of illusion.
"Anyway, this Ydersius must be undead? A blasphemy to this serpentfolk's Kro'akoth order? What can you tell us about this Ydersius?"
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"Demons and Undead? By the goddess we are tasked team."
Agriver walks over to the prisoner and kneels down to look him in the eyes intently, sensing the corruption within the man he speaks"
"Please tell me where these creatures you speak of are sir, do this and you have my word that I will escort you to the surface and let you go. I do not wish to harm you creature as you are impaired and maybe this taint in your soul is not of your doing."
The paladin stands and looks down at the seated prisoner and offers a gauntleted hand in aid for him to stand.
When I find these fiends I will hold their flesh to the holy light of the goddesses burning fury. Justice will be metered out! Now to get this insane evil bastard to give me what I want!!
“Kro’akoth, the Fire Serpent, is the true god of my kind! Ydersius is dead! Kro’akoth is all!"
The serpentfolk appears insane and delirious from torture. he gives no responses but similar muttering to Agriver's offer.
Ydersius and the serpentfolk were driven underground during the war with the Azlanti and forced to hide in the Darklands realm of Sekamina. In one of the final battles of the war, Ydersius was decapitated by the mighty Azlanti champion Savith and became known as the Headless King. Still believed to be living in two pieces, his mindless body is said to thrash in the lightless depths below, while his head has wasted away to a still-conscious skull.
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Ansel returns Robin's look with a blank stare as the Dwarf zones out in rumination.
"Ahhh excuse me, no no. Ydersius is an ancient patron off the serpentfolk. That's right. Him and his followers battled men in Azlant long ago during the Age of Legend. Driven underground during the war with the Azlanti, the sect was forced to hide in the Darklands realm of Sekamina. I remember this because it was so intriguing, in one of the final battles of the war Ydersius was decapitated by the mighty Azlanti champion Savith and became known as the Headless King. He is still believed to be living in two pieces, his mindless body is said to thrash in the lightless depths below, while his head has wasted away to a still-conscious skull."
Ansel looks around excitedly, his face wearing a dumb look. "Perhaps a piece of Ydersius is here? To carve the true likeness of such a deity, even a partial, would be worthy of a life's work..."
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"Ansel, if something so vile still lives down here.... We will vanquish it, not make.. art projects..."
Seeing the lunitic is beyond reason the paladin knocks out the evil prisoner and ties him up.
"We can come back for him once this is over. But we shouldn't risk his ranting alerting his other captors"
Agriver then steps out to the hallway to see if Vala has found anything else of note.
"Where to?"
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Vala nods in agreement at tying the serpent folk up, having thought so herself moments before. She checks over the door to see if there is a quick way to bar it from the outside, just in case.
"We'll decide what to do with him after we learn more further on."
Vala makes to continue down the hallway to the South.
The party moves on after securing the jail. Around the bend...
This chamber is full of statues. In the center is a basalt statue of a serpentine figure, its head wreathed in flame. A dozen smaller statues are clustered on the floor. These depict a different serpentine figure, but all the heads have been chopped off. A pathway through the statuary leads to double doors on the north wall.
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"Huh... heads all chopped off. I wonder. Could these have been done by the followers of that Yderius guy you were talking about, Ansel? Or by the enemies of them? Interesting question." Robin looks pained as he says all of this.
"No matter, we'll just kill all the evil-doers, and let Pharasma sort them out, right Agriver?"
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Looking at Robin the paladin nods solemnly. "The ladies mercy is reserved for those who have not given their hearts to evil."
Agriver walks up to the center statue and swings his giant adamantium blade at it's head with all his might.
"There is only one recourse for these fiends. We send them back to the nine hells to meet their master!"
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"Very insightful, Robin. Yes, perhaps these headless statues are indeed symbols to Ydersius, though they may also be a sign of warring between the religious schism that the prisoner hinted at. Only research will tell, I'll need ta thoroughly inspect their crafting to properly date them and determine the methods.." Ansel is cut off from speaking as Agriver swings his greatsword into the statue.
The dwarf's eyes go wide and his mouth drops open 'FOR THE LOVE OF YOUR GOD WHY DID YOU ATTACK A DEFENSELESS PIECE OF ART?!?!"
Ansel hurries to what remains of the statue and puts himself between the paladin and stone. "You're mad! No more! This is knowledge, history, and art! Not some fiend, by the golden ale's bubbles, this basalt was born of the Earth not hellfire." '..I hope..' Ansel looks at what is left of the statue.
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Seeing the effect he had on his dwarven companion he tries to explain. ”While the stone may be innocent, and I should have considered your stance on this Ansel.. it was being used to create false idols. These creatures are evil, and even worse some are daemonic. Anything – even stone that gives them fervor or hope should be dashed asunder… and scattered.”
Noticing his words have little effect to shake the mason out of his disbelief he continues ”Yon is rights, we can take its fragments back to the keep and after many hours of purification and rites of banishment – they could be crafted into something pure again.”
With the words having missed the mark, Agriver steeles himself and looks to the others.
”Get ready, the double doors seem logical and climatic. Vala if they are safe lets go, the goddess knows I just made enough noise to wake half this floor from the deepest slumber.”
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"It's, okay." Ansel replies as he immediately feels exposed, having never displayed any real emotion in front of this group before. "You weren't necessarily in the wrong, m'Ma often said I was kinder to stone than people. Taking it back is a good thought though, may be able to mend it but could definitely rework the stone."
As everyone lines up by the door, Ansel braces for the worst.
As Ansel and Agriver have their moment, The flaming wreath illusion fades from the broken statue. Meanwhile, Robin walks the outside of the room and finds nothing. Vala follows behind him and stops at the Western wall and finds a secret door.
Neither door is locked.
"You got some magic to do that, Ansel?"
Vala is able to disable the main door before Agriver leads through a tunnel beyond the secret door.
This room is an octagon with a middle section sunken down a foot. In the center are a desk and chair surrounded by four candelabras. To the west, the walls are lined with bookshelves. To the north, a bed rests against the wall. To the east are two basalt statues whose heads are wreathed in fire.
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"Secure the room quickly, they know we are here and likely are preparing behind the double doors in the other room. We need to end this soon - we still have some momentum, let's press our advantage."
Agriver stands near the secret door they just entered standing guard his sword arm twitching with excitement of the fiends he will soon bring to justice.
Vala quietly searches the room as Agriver stands guard. Ansel takes interest in the books, which are primarily written in Aklo. Vala finds a small leather pouch with rubies, platinum, and a large stone serpent's fang.
As she is checking the pouch, she is surprised by a big snake biting at her
She deftly dodges it and quietly kills it. She finishes searching and finds a secret door behind a statue.
Ansel does not know what illusion magic is creating the fire.
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"Disturbing, the fire on these statues is not what I would suspect.. maybe a smudge here.." He takes off his glasses to clean them with his dirty shirt.
"I will need to study these and learn Aklo, but after we're safe. At your lead Agriver." the dwarf nods to the paladin, content with his cursory glance over the room.
Agriver opens the secret door and steps in carefully.
Double doors stand in the south wall of this huge temple. On the left and right of the door are six alcoves, some empty and some with rough bedding on the floor. In the center of the main chamber is an enormous pillar of green crystal. A stone serpent is wrapped around it, its head aflame. In the back of the chamber is a raised altar, and behind it a wall mosaic pulses with green light.
As you begin to enter the room.. the room, an echoing voice speaks. It seems to come from all around, saying, “Have you come to seek the wisdom of the prophet? Swear allegiance to the Awakener and my prophecy will be but the first of the gifts you receive!”
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Looking for his quarry Agriver narrows his eyes, his sword held in an offensive position.
”Creature! HEAR ME!”
The paladin nearly quivers with zeal as he continues.
”In the name of the goddess Iomadae – patron of honor, justice, and valor - I denounce you, and sentence you and all your fiendish followers to the only justice she has to offer you – divine RETRIBUTION!”
With that he gives a glance back at his friends and nods ”Let’s get on with it then…..”
With a flourish of adamantium, he readies himself for his patrons next challenge.
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Suspicious that there might be an invisible creature within, hoping that it was just echoing that made it feel it was coming from all around, he nods to Agriver, before stating in Azlanti. "Yon and Ansel, be ready with faerie fire and glitterdust, in cast this bastard is invisible."
He looks to Ayame, and says, "With me, Ayame", have her guard him, as he moves in to get a better line of sight. He holds his bow, but his off hand is not far from the hilt of his falcion. 'I really should get a one-handed weapon, so that I don't have to always drop my bow. That, and it would be good for fighting on a boat, right Hanspur?'
'Oh, wait, your trident is usable one handed. I should make that magic.'
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Ansel nervously becomes aware of how dry his throat is. He moves in behind Robin, only 10 or so feet off his steps as the ranger enters the room. 'I'm getting better at this, the professors of battle magic would be floored if they say how well I'm reacting.'
"Yon and Ansel, be ready with faerie fire and glitterdust, in cast this bastard is invisible."
"Oh, I've got something better than that up my sleeve now..."
Agriver
Robin
Ayame
Ansel
Rboud
- Bold May Act
Ansel
Vala
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Robin
Ayame
Yon
Rboud
Agriver