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"The Aspis Consortium has a delivery for you. Unfortunately your house of horrors has turned one of ours to stone, and your statue has just slain my companion. I afraid the Consortium may need appropriate recompense." Eleanor takes advantage of the momentary pause to step into the hallway to a location that will allow her to cast Color Spray at the man while avoiding her companions.
Andrazi, your Bluff check will take 1 minute to accomplish, so it doesn't do much good (I'll assume you still attack the motionless statue, to avoid losing those good rolls!) Your starknife chips a good-sized piece off the statue's upraised arm. It doesn't react at all, but you have clearly damaged it in some way.
Leastrie, you have no actual description of the undercover agent; you only know that there is one, and so you were instructed to avoid fighting the Lissalans directly.
The man looks at Esmerelda, and smiles. "Aspis Consortium... of course you are. A pity you didn't tell us you were coming, or perhaps we might have met you at the door and escorted you here." We waves his hand at the statue, and it stalks back to its dais and resumes its former pose.
"I am Grelph, Initiate of Our Lady of Runes. What have you come to deliver? We expect nothing from you... in fact, we expect less than nothing from the Aspis these days."
Soth-Loren's healing stabilizes Aliera, moments before death claims her. Grelph raises an eyebrow at the display of divine power, and shushes the group again. He glances back over his shoulder at the chanting, even though it would take a herd of elephants to disturb the voices within.
"Your companion may be restored by the blood of a basilisk. I believe you already know where to find one. It's not ours, but belongs to the Arena. We merely decided to... make use of it." He smiles wickedly. "Now, what is this delivery you speak of? Be quick! The ritual nears its end, and I must return to attend to the Lashmistress."
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Esmerleda moves over to her beloved dinosaur, and tearing the hem off of her outfit attempts to bandage up her pet in the hopes it will enable the beast to get back on its feet.
"The Consortium feels we have been, what was the phrase? "Screwed over?" often enough by the 'Lazy, useless demon worshiping sons of b%+$@es holed up in Riddleport'," explains Esmerelda, using air quotes liberally as she continues to work on her fallen friend. "We are to make a delivery if and only if you can give us assurances that you and yours will finally pick up the slack you have been promising to bare, and only if you provide no hostility. Unfortunately, we have no choice but to view our friend being turned to stone as 'hostility' regardless of ownership of the lizard in question."
"I suppose, your big rock here might prove useful, if you could direct it to attack and kill the lizard, and free our friend from his stony prison, and heal my own lizard, then maybe, just maybe, no guarantees, we could make the delivery. We were specifically ordered not to have any faith if the words of a Lissian though, so you will have to earn your delivery through action, not words." Esmerelda, spits on the ground near the shoes of the man. "The promise of a Lissian is 'just so much wind, and half the value'. I believe was the wording." explains Esmerelda, again making liberal use of air quotes.
Grelph seems taken aback by this turn of events, and his arrogant veneer slips slightly. He raises his hands, palms outwards. "Now, now, don't mistake me, we consider the Aspis our allies, even if recent events have shaken our trust. But I will aid your companion, as a sign of our good will." He steps forward and kneels beside the motionless raptor, probing its wounds with surprising care. A scowl crawls onto his face, and he looks up at you.
"I will need to use My Lady's divine favor to restore her. I have a scroll in my robes which I will now retrieve." He stands, and slowly removes a scroll tube from a hidden pocket within his robes. Unrolling the scroll, he reads the writing on it and kneels again by the raptor's side. With one hand on the creature's brow, the priest invokes the final phrase of the ritual, and Aliera's eyes flutter open.
Grelph stands and brushes his robes free of dust, and gestures towards Ranvar, standing mute in the other room. "Your friend there will require more powerful magic. Unfortunately, I cannot provide this without cost - it is more than my authority allows." He glances over his shoulder at the ritual room, where the chanting is still continuing.
"I would be able to restore your comrade here for a fee of 400 gp. Since the "gifts" you spoke of were unexpected, I am sure they would count towards this exchange. We are, after all, allies..."
Grelph instructs you to wait here, and heads back through the door he came out of. Before you have time to worry about the possible ways he could betray you, he is back, carrying a bone scroll tube. He pulls the door closed behind him, and it locks with an audible "click".
"As a sign of my... our, good faith, I will restore your friend before asking for payment," he states. He unrolls the scroll, and intones a prayer in a language you don't understand. The statue of Ranvar begins to glow sith a soft greenish light, and the stone color of his skin begins to fade. After a few seconds, the glow disappears, and Ranvar stands there, restored to flesh. He immediately collapses, unmoving, into a heap on the floor of the chamber. Grelph looks at him briefly, and then turns to the group.
"He will likely recover... however, the shock to the system is too much for some, so I make no promises. Now, I have fulfilled my end of our bargain. It is your turn to show your worth."
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Hoping to keep her communication with the Lissian moving along while the mood is set, Esmeralda states, "What can you tell us about that statue, and this complex in general? Any maps? It seems a most intriguing place. I am sure we would all love a tour, excepting the ceremony, of course. No need to interrupt the chanting and what not."
Grelph looks awkward, and glances over his shoulder. "Alas, I cannot leave my post, as the ceremony has certain...requirements... I must see to for the Lashmistress. However, as we are allies, I see no harm in you showing yourself out by a less-than-direct route." He glances down at Ranvar's corpse, and his face reddens. "I am sorry about your companion. The strain of such transfiguration can be hard on the body and mind."
The chanting from the temple beyond suddenly crescendos into a loud shout, which sounds oddly resonant and deeper than the previous chanting has been. Grelph's head whips around to face the chapel, and his face pales. "You must excuse me, I must attend to my duties. Go in peace, and rest assured that I shall present your gifts to the Lashmistress as soon as the ceremony concludes."
From the chapel beyond, you here the sound of an eruption of flame from the chapel beyond, and a crowd of people reacting in mixed awe and fear. Then there is a howl, perhaps human, perhaps animal, followed by the sound of more bursts of flame. The howl is cut off with a yelp, and then silence reigns for a full second before the assembled crowd begins chanting again. Grelph ducks back through the doorway and closes the door, dashing off towards the temple.
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Esmeralda stations Aliera in a location with a good view of the statue, and orders her to watch. Should the statue threaten her again, Aliera should just run to Emeralda.
Esmeralda carefully scouts the area, looking for anything particularly fragile, plumbing, ventilation, or religious iconography. Pulling chalk from her belt pouch, Esmeralda will carefully mark each spot located. As soon as she is reasonably sure the sabotage points are located and marked, Esmeralda will carefully map a path taking the party past as many locations as possible for a quick and dirty sabotage on the run. If Aliera should return early because the statue awakens, Emeralda will let the group know, and flee at top speed...