Ali, you realize that the rites would probably be better received if they were done in the temple proper, instead of in the foyer.
Drakra, much to your surprise and amazement, Horgus actually comes to help you with moving some of the debris away from the temple walls. With a little bit of effort you manage to clear away any from the foyer, which should make it easier to open the doors to the temple.
Drakra frowns as Horgus helps him, although he does not show this outwardly.
What is this strange man up to? First he wants to leave the injured behind. Now he is being helpful. . . . Probably scared to death of being left behind. Hehehe. Must have gotten to him after all.
Once the doors are cleared away. Drakra will inspect them. He does not expect traps in a holy temple to Torag, but he also knows that those stubborn dwarves can be sneaky bastards when they want to.
Perception:
If he does not find anything, he will help opening the doors. (Although he will probably hinder more than help.)
Strength Check(aid another) (if necessary): <-- at least he does help a little
--> +3 Aid Another from Helpful trait
Glad to see the most antagonistic members of the party working together Godwin helps both with the debris and with the door.
Ali, you realize that the rites would probably be better received if they were done in the temple proper, instead of in the foyer.
Ali then moved into the temple proper and commenced his prayers and 'consecration'.
Selindra is busying herself with cleaning, and preparing. Her silver holy symbol she hangs around her cord, and she also has a wooden one that she pulls out and would have available to hang in the temple when they decide to proceed with consecrating the area.
Selindra also digs into her pack, pulling out her more ceremonial garb, rather than her armor, and sheds the armor to allow her to move around the area better, as well as to be prepared to assist in performing any rites that need to be observed.
Godwin pushes against the door which seems to barely give, when Drakra jams a shoulder against it and pushes. Between the two of them, they manage to get the door to swing open. Once your light suffuses the place you see a figure that seems to be kneeling before the altar. Judging from the size, you would guess that this may be a dwarf. The figure seems to be oblivious to both the door opening, and your light.
Godwin activates his halo and examines the figure and the room.
Drakra, apparently oblivious to temple etiquette, pipes up:
Fancy that. A dwarf in a dwarf temple. Wonder how he got here?
Perception:
Selindra looks about the room and then to the dwarf, and her instincts kick in. She opens her senses, trying to determine if there is a presence of evil in the room.
Lost in thought it takes a few moments after the flies have been put down for him to realize that they almost lost Horgus and have started to enter the temple.
Flynn moves in as well, maintaining the rear-guard position.
" What's going on? Is there someone there?"
As Drakra and Godwin begin to move towards the figure, Selindra reaches out to sense the nature of the figure.
Selindra nearly trips over herself, grabbing her blade and shield. "This creature is not what he seems. His heart radiates evil intent..."
Selindra readies herself, cursing that she changed out of her armor and into her ceremonial vestments at a time like this.
Godwin draws his sword as well. What are you? Are you responsible for defiling this temple? he says loudly and menacingly.
Hearing the human religious types name the dwarf as evil, Drakra bravely steps behind Godwin and begins to reach for his sword, which has somehow gotten twisted behind him so that Drakra appears to be dancing about as though he has ants in his pants. Eventually, he manages to grasp the disobedient sword and draw it from the misplaced scabbard.
The figure doesn't appear to take notice of Godwin or Selindra despite their tone, and doesn't move. Now that you are looking at the figure, you notice a layer of dust covers the thing.
Is it alive? Godwin examines the figure closer
Darker bravely follows in Godwin's shadow, looking at the dwarf from behind the taller human holy warrior.
Perception:
As Godwin gets close, the thing turns on him with a shriek, hands that resemble little more than claws extended forward, seeking his flesh. Dust flies from the thing, and the stench is almost overwhelming.
Knowledge(religion):
Watch out. That is a Huecuva. Likely a former priest of Torag who renounced his deity before his demise. Their claws and bite can cause disease, and they are very difficult to harm, although silver and magic weapons can be effective.
Drakra will bravely delay letting those more capable to do the fighting.
Former priest just reeked undead to the inquisitor and the smell from the apparition did nothing to dispel the notion.
With no silver or magic weapons, the inquisitor was still able to contribute to its demise. He clenched his fist and willed a positive ray of golden sunlight to burst forth. It struck the undead leaving blackened tissue where it touched.
Foul, faithless, traitor, BEGONE! Godwin roars in anger upon hearing Drakra explain the creature's nature.
Godwin stands his ground and imbues his sword with the wrathful power of Iomedae
.
After listening to Drakra, Flynn hangs his flail on his belt. Drawing his silver dagger, he awaits for a space to press forward.
"Unclean beast! Get thee down, from wence you came!"
He shouts from the back of the group.
Godwin's prayer is answered and Iomedae's blessing bursts forth from his weapon in a blazing nimbus of white light. The creature screeches in rage upon seeing Godwin connect with his deity, and attacks Godwin with vigor. Godwin is able to fend off the attack, and the Huecueva's claws come away with nothing more than cloth.
Ali calls on Sarenrae's power and the ray of sunlight strikes the creature, leaving a blackened, charred hole in its shoulder
Flynn presses forward to the thing's side for the attack. The dagger punches home, the skin of the creature blackening at the dagger slice.
**********Mid Round 1 ***********
Ali 14/14
Drakra 10/10
Flynn 12/12
Godwin 10/10
Selindra 12/12
Creature 5 pts damage
Drakra and Selindra still have actions.
Knowing that his tiny weapon is unlikely to have any effect on the horrid undead, but also realizing that appearance is everything, Drakra hesitantly moves around the creature in attempt to get behind it. Once there, he swings his sword, not expecting to actually hit the creature, but at least hoping to distract it a little.
Attack(aid another)(fighting defensively): vs DC10 (Add +2 if flanking possible)
--> lol, I get a crit on an aid another
--> +3 (aid another) attack for Godwin on his next attack
AC 18 for this round due to Fighting Defensively
Come on guys, hit the thing, take it down.
Ali continued maneuvering to try and get a clean shot on this foul creature but there too many combatants and his ray of sunlight goes awry.
Godwin brings his sword to bear and swings at it two handed.
"Inheritor guide my blade!"
Flynn cries out stabbing at the creature again.
*********Round 2*************
Selindra continues to fight defensively.
Drakra moves to the side and makes a feint at the undead creature's face. The Huecueva, distracted by the move, leaves a momentary opening in its flank and Godwin takes full advantage of it slicing into the things' hip. The weapon flares as it strikes, and the sent of burning flesh comes from the blow.
The Huecueva, incensed at Flynn's presence leaps to the attack, but has no answer for the heavy shield that Flynn interposes between them, and both attacks screech off the metal of the shield.
Flynn moves to keep pace with the Huecueva, calling on his Goddess' might, and as he moves forward, the creature howls in rage as it sees Flynn's holy symbol, its erratic movement causing Flynns blow to swing wide of its mark. Another golden beam bursts forth from Ali's hand, but trying to fire through the swirling melee proves to be too difficult, and the beam flies off hitting a wall with no effect.
****************End Round 2****************
Ali 14/14
Drakra 10/10
Flynn 12/12
Godwin 10/10
Selindra 12/12
Creature 15 pts damage
Godwin's sword mirrors his eyes, both glowing white hot with rage as Godwin maneuvers in the tight space to try to get better access to the evil undead creature and brings his sword down again.
Selindra still stays on the defensive, leaning back on some of the basic tactics that she learned at the temple. She tries to weave in and out with Flynn, using her shield to help cover his weak points while he is able to strike, but her timing is a bit off, as she has not had enough of a chance to work with any of her companions yet, and seems to stumble through it.
The inquisitor once more opened up his hands and directed the ray of sunlight to the foul undead.
This time the ray hit straight on and left another scorching mark on the fiend.
Eyes bright with fear, Drakra continues to wave his sword in the general direction of the undead, while really doing all in his power to avoid getting hit by the monstrosity.
Fighting Defensively - AC18
Attack(aid another): <-- this is insane, 2 natural 20s on aid another
+3 to Godwin's attack -- should make his roll a 17, 19 if flanking is possible
"Face judgement foul heretic!"
Godwin waits for Flynn to get into a better tactical position before making his strike. The Huecueva once again flings itself bodily at Flynn, trying to rake its claws down Flynns torso. With one claw it tears at Flynn's shield, its unnatural strength pulling the shield to the side. The second claw rakes along Flynn's side opening a gash, the rot and decay from the thing's claws leaving a black smear over the open wound. The blow on the shield forces Flynn's balance off and his dagger falls wide of the mark.
Godwin and Drakra move in from the flank of the undead, Drakra slapping his blade against the things knee, causing it to buckle momentarily. Godwin flowing in over the stumble to slash down, nearly severing the limb from the body. Ali calls upon the Dawnflower's grace again and a searing golden light burns deeply into the Huecueva's chest. The creature sputters and drops to the ground, unmoving.
*************End Combat*************
Ali 14/14
Drakra 10/10
Flynn 8/12
Godwin 10/10
Selindra 12/12
Godwin breathes hard as he comes down from his rage; the flickering white light coming from his blade dimming as he does. This... thing.... must be removed from this place. Are you alright Flynn?
Seeking to remove the disgusting corpse from the formerly holy place Godwin hefts it up and carries it like a deer carcass outside of the temple and dumps it 50 feet away.
We should clean and re-consecrate this place. But first this abomination must be burnedburned he says to the group as he sets about the repulsive task.
As the creature falls, Drakra's sword drops to the ground and he grasps his stomach suddenly realizing that he is really revolted by the creature. Before Godwin has a chance to move the dead body, the tiny gnome runs outside and covers a portion of the cavern wall with a colorful display of what he had for breakfast that morning.
After rinsing his mouth out, the gnome returns back inside.
Sorry. I am not familiar with killing people, even dead people.
Godwin pauses in his work to look down at Drakra. To tell the truth neither am I. I am grateful for the way you put this evil thing off balance. I do not think my blows would have hit if it was not for you.
Still slightly unsteady on his feet, Drakra nods a thanks to Godwin's complement.
He then bends down and retrieves his sword which, after 3-4 attempts, he manages to sheathe without cutting himself or someone else.
Thank you. I didn't think I could hurt it with this old blade, and was really just trying to . . . Drakra pauses, suddenly realizing that it was a complement. Yes, that was my intention. Knowing of it's unholy defenses, I sought to distract it with my guile so that your big stick could bring it low.
Drakra smiles to himself and the skill with which he diverted the slow witted human.
"I'm fine. Little worried about the goo it left when it clawed me, but otherwise fine. Let's get this shrine cleaned up. It has spent long enough in neglect."
Sheathing his dagger, Flynn begins to clean and wrap his injuries in torn pieces of his tabard. Then he begins to clean, using the remainder of his tabard if nothing else is available.
Making sure everyone was alright, the inquisitor looked at his fist and smiled. He then thanked his Goddess with a kneeling prayer.
He nodded to everyone, "Nicely done. Thank you all."
Ali then went on to inspect the abandoned temple and commence his prayer/dance.
While Godwin is hauling the Huecueva's remains away, he hears a clinking sound from its belt. Looking more closely, he finds a pouch containing two potion bottles. After brushing off the dust, and unstopping the bottles he can tell that they are Violet, Peppery, Bubbly and Bitter potions. Further investigation finds a knotted gold ring on one of the withered fingers.
While cleaning the temple, Flynn finds a warhammer with a master's mark lying against the far side of the altar.
Cleaning the temple and performing the rites necessary to reconsecrate the temple takes about 8 hours.
Godwin dumps the body far away from the temple and uses the contents of his kit to start a fire and burn the body in cleansing fire. He guesses the potions to be those of Cure Light Wounds and consults with Aravashinial to confirm. He also casts Detect Magic on the warhammer and the ring.
As he does so Godwin stays mindful of whatever he remembers of Torag's customs and those of his church.
Drakra watches and attempts, mostly unsuccessfully, to aid in the cleanup of the temple.
Know(religion):
Fortunately, he recalls a priest of Torag describing many of the important aspects of the religion to him one time. Hmmm, now that Drakra thinks about it, it is possible that the priest was not actually speaking to Drakra due to Drakra having been hiding behind the booth in the tavern where the discussion had taken place. Ah, but this does not really matter, the important thing is that Drakra sort of listened.
Flynn, distracted by the hammer, can't seem to remember much about cleansing rituals.
He does pass on whatever he can, however.
" Anyone use a hammer? It's very well made, but not my preference."
After about 8 hours of work cleaning and sanctifying the chapel, following the advice of Drakra, who winds up being an amazing source of knowledge on Torag, the group gets a sense of peace about the temple that didn't exist before.
Godwin sighs with satisfaction at a job well done. I do not know what is happening above ground but this... this is how we begin to fight back against the evils that plague us
------
Darker almost glows as the others listen to his advice. Wait, no, he is actually glowing since he appears to have cast a light spell on the top of his hair.
Ali breathed easier as the calm and peace settled over the ancient temple. Glad to have been instructed about Torag, he thanked the Dwanflower for her blessings.
"Resting underground is not my preference but I understand. I'll just 'feel' the dawn and go through my morning prayers as she instructs me."
He touched his forehead and bowed.
"We should set up guards. While the temple may be peaceful, we know we are surrounded by evil. I'll take my turn of course but let others dictate when my open eyes are needed."