"Wait..." she says as she pauses and looks at the structure and the statue and thinks "Isn't one of the things you need has something to do with Erastil? Isn't he associated with the Stag?"
Knowledge(Religion)check 1d20+8
"Aye," says Bingo. "That's Ol Deadeye's mark, fer sure." He makes the sign of antlers with his thumb and pinky outstretched and places his hand over his heart.
It is indeed a temple to Erastil. The entire shrine bears his marks and dedication, although it is very clear that it has fallen into disuse. The vines are overgrown and much of the remaining stone structures are covered in them. The algae in the pool is thick and blocks almost all sight of the water below.
A few moments later, from the top of the stairs to the west, a large figure emerges from the cave. From the distance, it looks like a large quadruped covered in fur. He stands at the top of the stairs, and stares at you with eerie red eyes. He raises his head, and lets out a deafening growl that leaves little question that this is some kind of large bear. He seems to stay at the opening staring at you, with blood from what seems to be a recent kill on its mouth.
"is that a bear? And Its hurt, It might be dangerous"Ionnia says as she looks at the bear and the temple.
" Shelyn, Please grant us the power to restore this beautiful sanctuary for the people here, and let our efforts in its restoration inspire and encourage a freindship with the followers and chosen of Erastil/" she asks in a quick prayer as she gets off her Wagon and pulls out her shield and morning star.
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A bear! Really? A great big bear? I have never seen one before. Drispeera seems almost entranced as she walks towards it.
Anyone paying attention will notice that Drispeera has been walking effortlessly through the brambles, as if they weren't even there.
She'll shake her head awake and cast mage armor on herself. To Lady Ionnia, she'll say Is it friendly?
And to the bear itself Ooh you want everyone to think you're big and fierce, but you're just a big cuddlebug, aren't you?
"Wait! he might be rabid!"She says as she slips her morning star back on her and cautiously walking after Dris.
" At least cast some form of defensive magic" she says as she stops looking at the others as she than pulls up into a position and waits ready to cast if need be.
"Well, she did cast Mage Armor, so there's that, for whatever it counts," Mornaura giggles. "Anyway, Dris, please don't go near him alone. And in the unlikely case that the bear doesn't understand our language, let me try to talk to it."
"Mornaura, I didn't know you where fluent in bear? You must teach me some time, I'd love to hear what a bear would think of the great Ballad of Alanzere The Dervish of the Desert!" she says smiling as she than looks at the others wondering what they would do.
Bingo, his face pale, leaps in front of Dris, pulling out his sickle. "Have you completely lost your mind, woman? That thing will tear you apart! Get back!" He waves his arms at the bear. "Raar, yourself, you great beast. Stay away from her. Graaar!" In his panic, Bingo has lost his usual slangy accent.
"GROOOOWL, BURRGNA, BROOOOOOOOOWR, RAWRRAW, RRARRRARW"
"This place... protection... Erastil... kiiiiill... maaaim..."
In your head, a much softer voice is heard... almost like a telepathic whisper...
...free...me...
...kill...me...
Kaeso extends his arms and attempts to calm the beast down. "Easy there, big fella. No one really wants to fight you."
Handle Animal (would this be Push?):
As she turns to her companions, the witch seems rather stressed.
"Folks, be careful. Definitely don't let him hug you. There's something wrong with the bear. He's... possessed by something or someone. And he ask us to free him - even to kill him. But maybe we can capture him and try to find a cure...?"
Looks like we have hostile intentions showing, so let's go into combat rounds.
Kaeso:
Drispeera:
Mornaura:
Bingo:
Norn:
Ionnia:
BBEG:
Round 1:
Dris - Casting entangle
Norn
Kaeso
Ionnia
Bear
Bingo
Mornaura
Dris, where do you want the edge of the entangle to be?
Kaeso, the bear is up some stairs so to charge him you'd need to wait for him to come down.
"Oh Shelyn, The Uncorruptible Grant this humble vessel the power and protection of your divine spirit, Make My faith my shield and aid me in this conflict be it peaceful or violent!" Ionnia calls out as she pulls forth a parchment with a symbol of a dove with an extremely long tail. It gets consumed and she stands pulling out her Morning star.
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Dris will cast Entangle so that it goes to the bottom of the steps. She hopes if the bear makes his first save that he'll still have to make 1 or 2 more saves before reaching the party.
DC 16 reflex save.
(40' radius = 80' diameter, right? So 10' behind the bear to the bottom of the steps.)
School transmutation; Level druid 1, ranger 1
CASTING
Casting Time 1 standard action
Components V, S, DF
EFFECT
Range long (400 ft. + 40 ft./level)
Area plants in a 40-ft.-radius spread
Duration 1 min./level (D)
Saving Throw Reflex partial; see text; Spell Resistance no
DESCRIPTION
This spell causes tall grass, weeds, and other plants to wrap around creatures in the area of effect or those that enter the area. Creatures that fail their save gain the entangled condition. Creatures that make their save can move as normal, but those that remain in the area must save again at the end of your turn. Creatures that move into the area must save immediately. Those that fail must end their movement and gain the entangled condition. Entangled creatures can attempt to break free as a move action, making a Strength or Escape Artist check. The DC for this check is equal to the DC of the spell. The entire area of effect is considered difficult terrain while the effect lasts.
If the plants in the area are covered in thorns, those in the area take 1 point of damage each time they fail a save against the entangle or fail a check made to break free. Other effects, depending on the local plants, might be possible at GM discretion.
I'm sorry you want to die, Pookie. I guess we'll oblige. Guys, I recommend using ranged weapons until he gets to us. Its gonna be a tangled mess up there for a bit.
Kaeso props up his lance nearby and readies his longbow. I'm not used to shooting off horseback, but I think I can manage it if the horse isn't moving.
With more than enough vegetation around, Dris uses her magic to create a tangled mess of overgrowth hoping to slow the bear down. As they get to its feet, the bear growls and is able to pull himself on top of the vegetation.
Round 1:
Dris
Norn <--
Kaeso
Ionnia
Bear
Bingo
Mornaura
Norn draws his longbow (move action) and fires once at the bear.
"Erastil! Looks like I did not practice enough with this thing!"
Kaeso, take your shot.
Ionnia pulls forth her holy symbol and asks Shelyn for her protection.
Bear on deck after Kaeso
Round 1:
Dris
Norn
Kaeso
Ionnia (+2 AC)
Bear <--
Bingo
Mornaura
Kaeso draws his bow and lets an arrow fly toward the eye of the beast.
Longbow
Damage
Kaeso's arrow gets stuck in one of the pillars on the staris. The bear moves down, unable to charge due to the difficult terrain. He continues to growl, fixated on Bingo.
Save for ending in entangle:
Round 1:
Dris
Norn
Kaeso
Ionnia (+2 AC)
Bear
Bingo <--
Mornaura (casting ray of sickening)
Mornaura casts Web on the area in front of the bear.
"Anyone else got any means to slow him down? I don't want to kill the poor misguided beast as long as there's hope, but we can't let him charge one of us!"
"Iffen we're nae gonna kill 'em, why don' we jest leave?" asks Bingo, nocking an arrow to his shortbow, but not loosing just yet.
"Because we want to secure this place and because I want to cure him."
'I have to say I am not yet strong enough for my goddess to bestow such ability to me, I would love to save this creature if its truly suffering but, Alas we might have to slay hi to end there suffering and than put him to rest....Mornuara could you ask him who cursed him?"
She asks as she looks at the bear and begins to think on her simple studies of other religions.
Kaeso prepares another arrow, and says "Something tells me that bear's not a big fan of Erastil, or his worshipers."
"Oh I see, but if we can figure out why he is here and if it has something to do with the Old One-Eye than I will hopefully glen information as to what we can possibly correct this cursed bear, or even appease Erastil" she says as she cranks her crossbow.
She readys the shot just incase it gets free and she needs to shoot a bolt into its body. She hated this thought but some times violence is the only answer, but she didn't see a way around this, and the beast might break free to come get them at any moment
Bingo delays and Mornaura shoots a web, easily using the pillars as anchors.
once again, the bear avoids becoming glued to the ground, although he is still in the web's area.
Round 2:
Dris <--
Norn
Kaeso
Ionnia (+2 AC)
Bear
Mornaura
Delay:
Bingo
" Well Erastil is often okay with the overgrowth. I doubt though this bear is its Gaurdian, overwise any worshipper would be welcome? O think...and I might be a crazy concept, that maybe this bear was something else, or was another persons animal companion and got cursed to be the Gaurdian, but instead of welcoming worshippers and the non aggressive, it has been attack everyone...I think the poor beast is lost to us unless we can appease Erastil or...We figure out some way to reverse it, I'm afraid we might have to slay the poor soul to lift it from this curse" Ionnia says as she looks to the others her eyes a bit watery, it really does pain her that she cannot do any thing.
"Erastil bless ya', big fella," whispers Bingo as he lets fly with his shortbow.
Bingo's arrow flies above the brambles and seems to be about to miss the bear, when a small vision of a bow and arrow appear in Bingo's eye. With can only be divine intervention, Bingo's arrow veers at the last second, striking the bear in the neck taking some extra damage.
Bingo's fancy arrow is followed by Dispeera's missiles, which as expected have no problem finding their target.
Round 2:
Dris
Norn <--
Kaeso
Ionnia (+2 AC)
Bear
Mornaura
Status:
Bear (-13 hp)
Norn takes a better stance, and fires a volley at the bear!
Rapid shot:
Damage:
In a similar fashion, one of Norn's arrows had no trouble finding it's mark. However, the second also took a mid-flight turn to strike the bear; barely a few inches off from Bingo's shot.
The bear, barely making it to the bottom of the stairs, falls to the ground lifeless.
Norn and Bingo look at each other in surprise, silently bragging to themselves about this feat of strength.
More surprising than the pair's sudden martial prowess is the corpse of the bear. It has begun to shimmer with a warm glow, and with a flash the bear is no more. In his place there is the corpse of a naked man, laying on the ground face-down. You can see his face, a mature although not old bearded man. The expression of his face is full of relief and peace, as if he was having the most wonderful dream. A few more moments pass, and his body suddenly looses it's skin, leaving behind an old dusty skeleton. As the party gets close to him the man's transformation is complete, his skeleton turning to dust and being dissipated by the grove's gentle breeze...
Behind you, the temple suffers a transformation in itself. The vines taking over the temple retreat back into the ground. The water in the pool suddenly becomes crystal clear, without a single trace of algae. Next to the pool, what once looked like a moss-covered pillar, reveals itself to be a statue: a man wearing very light leather armor, but with the head of a stag.
From above the steps, a small whimper can be heard at the cave above...
"Sometimes you need to put a creature down. It's a mercy."
Longbow:
Damage:
He's got his lance and shield ready to go, or as ready as he can have them. If Cuddlyrump gets into the open, he wants to be able to charge. That might take a round to arrange, I suppose. So if he gets to the bottom step, I'm dropping the bow and getting the lance out.
"Thankee, Deadeye, hope he finds peace now," prays Bingo.
"By the spirits of these lands..." the witch mumbles in astonishment, watching the transformation of the bear and the temple around them.
"The way these arrows flew, and now this... I guess it was meant for us to... release him the hard way."
She slowly turns around herself, taking in the new view of the temple, then suddenly tilts her head.
"Do you hear that, too? Sounds as if there's something else up there..."
With that, she starts to climb up the stairs.
As Morn and the gang start climbing the stairs, the cries become louder and louder. At first it seemed like a baby or a toddler crying, but at the top of the stairs you can see the source of the noise: it's a young cheetah that was to become the bear guardian's meal. It's arm looks to be crushed, most likely broken by the powerful jaws of the bear. It's cries are piercing as it writhes in pain from it's injuries.
Behind the cheetah is the bear's lair. Piles of animal bones and a pair of carcasses linger here. Not much seems to be of value at first glance.
As soon as Drispeera makes it to the top of the stairs, the cheetah falls eerily silent, and begins to only cry without making a noise, whose staring at Dris's colorful face.
"Deadeye be with us. What should we do with this creature?"
"Stand back, I will heal this animal, If the patron of this temple wills me to I will gladly do so" she walks up and throws out a piece of jerky as she smiles, "Hi there kitty, I know you hurt but I am here to help you okay"
She walks to the side of it and looms at Kaeso and the others, " Can any one help calm him so I can help it, And keep me from getting hurt" she grabs her holy symbol and looks to the others as she begins to sing in Slyvan a beautiful melody about a Nymph and her love of the Paladin of Erastil
"What a pretty song. . ." Kaeso furtively wipes away a tear from his eye and settles down next to the Cheetah, saying "Down, noble kitty."
Handle Animal:
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Oh little kitty, you are so beautiful. Don't worry that cranky Mr. Cuddlebutt won't bother you any more. We are here to help you. Listen to that nice lady sing a pretty song. Are you hungry? Maybe you would like a piece of nasty Mr. Dire Boar.
Drispeera gives the cheetah a piece of Deodan jerky, and tries to pet it, if it will allow.
Animal Handling
Walks up while it is distracted and changes places her hands on the kitty and casts.
"By the Eternal Rose, be made healthy and hearty once more!" She proclaims as pink and violet energies surrounding her hands and begin to out line the injuries of the cat
Mornaura rolls her eyes for a moment when she is told to stand back.