Kyson moves quickly, trying to save those that might be burning, calling up his god...joining Linah in healing.
Sarenrae? Are you there? It's me, Kyson. I need you.
Healing (1/5)
Kyson holds up his symbol, wishing healing upon those who might be only mostly dead, but somewhat alive.
"Are we too late, Linah? Where is that demon?"
Khazmia shudders, dabbing at the blood on her clothes, "Horrible creatures. Simply horrible. " Seeing the old woman, she has the good grace to blush.
The woman nods.
"You were of much help. Zotzilaha has been angry, and clearly our attempt to appease him failed. If not for you, I think his minions may have destroyed Tanaroa."
"Happy to help. Who's whotisname, though, and why's he pissed off?", asks Sekathral.
"Happy to help. Who's whotisname, though, and why's he pissed off?", asks Sekathral.
Kyson nods seriously.
"And where did he go? We don't want him coming back when your warriors are away helping us fight off the pirates that are coming to attack."
"He is Zotzilaha, the god of bats. I do not know where he has gone, but I think maybe back to his Fangs," she says, pointing to a pair of smoking volcanoes in the distance.
"We have tried to find out what has angered him, and we believe he is angry over an idol of the bat god stolen from his shrine in Nextepua," a volcano in the north. "We have tried to appease him with offerings, but his wrath grows. If the idol is not found and returned, Nextepua will erupt and destroy all!"
Zotzilaha
Nextepua
"What? Are you sure?"
Zotzilaha is the Olman god of bats and horrible things that fly in the night. He also holds influence over the Olman underworld and is associated with diseases and plagues.
He's known in other Olman settlements by the name Camazotz and in this area at least has increasingly taken on the fire aspect of another Olman god called Huhueteotl.
Lastly, Kyson remembers, he is part man and bat and can manifest an aspect on the Material Plane when he is displeased. His mere gaze strikes fear in his enemies, and only holy weapons cause his aspect lasting harm, though nobody has ever dared try.
Nextepua is merely the name of the volcano, though it translates to He Who Rains Ashes.
Kyson shares what he knows and recalls with others.
"We need these people to help us. Maybe if we promise to come help them move the village so their unspeakably evil god doesn't take fiery revenge upon them, they'll be grateful enough to help," Kyson suggests.
"Or maybe we can lure the pirates here and hope their evil bat god gets them too." Kyson suggests helpfully.
The woman's eyes widen as she sees the idol, and then narrows in suspicion.
"Zotzilaha should be more careful where he leaves his toys." Khazmia mutters, mostly to herself.
Sekathral elaborates on Zstelian's story where necessary, also pointing out that they've never been to the ****ing island before so it wasn't them who ****ing well stole it and (in not so many words) they're doing the Olmans a favour by bringing it back.
If I had pinched it, I'd have bloody well sold it by now, anyway...
"Yeah, we found that instead of finding damsels to rescue...no matter, we did what we had to do," Kyson agrees.
Diplomacy to aid general good feelings
Linah is horrified to learn of the bat god Zotzilaha. "What kind of god would persecute his followers like that. Why do you pay service to such a malevolent being?"
The woman seems to consider for a few moments, but finally shrugs.
"I guess if you were the thieves, you would not be so brazen as to show us your takings. That is indeed the idol. If you can return it to the volcano, that should calm it and we would be in your debt."
She seems confused by Linah's question.
"Do you not have gods who do not have the people's best interest at heart? Zotzilaha is cruel, but we seek to appease Him so He will not punish us."
"No, our god loves us, grants us the warmth of the Sun. We face her every morning, and every morning she blesses us with sunshine and warmth," Kyson answers plainly.
Kyson moves to hand over the idol.
"Maybe you could help us fight off some pirates in exchange for the idol? You could appease your bloodthirsty and hateful god and we would get help against the pirates that seek to destroy us all."
Diplomacy
"I think she wants *us* to take back the object, your Reverence", hisses Sekathral in Kyson's ear, then out loud:
"Yeah, we'll take it back, mate. As the lad says, we might need your help a bit later on, but we'll talk about that when we come back."
Khazmia stirs uncomfortably next to Kyson during his tirade. She grew up with a more...cautious... relationship with her goddess than Kyson's...but she wants to bellieve...and even at her worst, Saranrae was never a demonbatcreature from hell! "And she doesn't come out of fires and burn us.And she's beautiful!"
Kyson's head whips around to better look at Khaz in the midst of her feverish fulmination in support of Sarenrae.
Ooh...that's well said. Our goddess rules.
"So you just need us to toss this idol into that volcano? Just chuck it in? And your god will be happy again?" Kyson asks, trying to confirm.
Like tossing a bottle of rum to Sekathral...keeps him quiet for a while.
He looks over at the volcano.
"If that is all it takes to keep your god quiet, I'm happy to risk my life, fly in the face of danger, and otherwise do something stupid do it for you."
"You must return the idol to the shrine. If you do so, we will send warriors to help you against the pirates when the time comes. Zotzilaha's shrine entrance is on the lower slopes of Nextepeua. The entrance is a large cave mouth, its rim marked with bat carvings and numerous niches for offerings.
"Beyond this entrance, a winding tunnel bores deep into the volcano's core. We make pilgrimage to the chamber once a year, with powerful magics to protect us from the heat."
" I thought the volcano was where it needed to go? We can't just give it to the volcano? I could fly it up there, I'm fairly certain." Khazmia offers.
"No, you must return it to the shrine, inside the volcano."
"Oh." The bubble of optimism of having this over quickly bursts at the pronouncement.
"How long will it take? I don't know that we can fly all of you there." Khazmia glances at the others,looking for input, preferably something that would make such a trip quick.
He looks over at the volcano.
"Sooner we go, the sooner we arrive. Let's up sticks and bugger off. We're old and ***ing ugly enough to cope with whatever's there"
Kyson agrees with Seka's logic. He will seek provisions for the trip from either the town or the ships.
"Zstelian, is this is a good use of our time? This is going to cost us two days...let alone how much time inside. I'll try to protect us from the worst of the heats, but be prepared. You too, Linah. We'll need all of Sarenrae's gifts these days."
Kyson will be ready to move out soon, figuring that they can find their way to the volcano easily enough.
"I am afraid that it is going to cost us two days each way. Perhaps even three days depending on the trail.", Linah says and turns to J'kal. "I do not hesitate to help you return the idol to the shrine, but I worry that we will not be able to do so before the pirates arrive to Farshore. Our defences are spread thin as it is. We need to be present when they land."
The journey, despite several unpleasant encounters with dinosaurs, proves no real danger, and you soon arrive at the cave.
A winding tunnel leads several miles into the volcano, the heat oppressive.
Kyson can (and will) offer Endure Elements (communal, as necessary) to help with the 'normal' heat and fresh water on demand. After all, Sarenrae provides.
For the abnormal heat, Kyson can have resist energy (communal) to allot as needed.
He keeps himself well away from the dinojerks, fully aware of what they did to brave Silvio, Sea Captain and Hero-to-All. He hides behind Linah when he is not airwalking, so fearful is he.
He pauses at the cave's mouth to prepare for entry and for doom, wishing it would be easier to simply fly in and fly out...however, that does not seem wise.
Kyson is ready to enter.
Khazmia switches her breeze spell from one person to the next every so often, hoping to at least keep people from melting.
She watches Kyson walking behind Linah and wonders if this means her placement in the church is higher or if the young man has found someone damsel-y enough for him. She is very pretty, if you go in for that sort of thing.
Protected by Kyson's endure elements spell, you manage to avoid the ill effects of the heat as you travel through the wining tunnel for an hour into the volcano's core. Periodic tremors shake the volcano, as it rumbles angrily.
After about an hour, the sloping tunnel widens into a large round chamber filled with smoke and ash from fissures riddling the rock walls and floor. A fiery glow and thunderous rumble comes from the west, where rents in the cave wall open out directly into the active volcano's throat. The walls of the cave are riddles with niches, some of which contain offerings of food, trinkets and animals, while others are empty or contain only ash.
Through the haze, an 8-foot-tall bat leers from where it has been carved in relief out of the far wall. The bat's wings rise over its head, with its claws meeting at a curiously shaped niche that appears to be empty.
Kyson looks at the niche and then at Khaz and Linah.
"Any volunteers? I'm happy to guard your back from way back here," Kyson offers.
Khazmia looks gazes up at the awful carving. "I'll take it up." Khazmia casts fly on her self, and holds out her hand for the idol.
Seconds after Khazmia places the bat idol back in the niche, a humanoid-shaped creature with the head of a monstrous bat, razor-sharp fangs and orange glowing eyes appears. Membranous bat wings covered in this black fur the color of coal jut out of its back and its hands end in long, cruel claws and its body radiates waves of intense heat. Seven of the flaming bats you fought earlier fly in circles around it, but it takes no aggressive action and in fact immediately dismisses the fire bats back into the volcano as it bows deeply to you.
In a grating baritone voice, the creature speaks in halting Common: "Zotzilaha thanks you for returning his treasure. Know, mortals, that Zotzilaha rewards those who serve him. You may each choose something of value from his vault. If you have questions about a prize, you need but ask me."
The bat carving rumbles to life, lifting its wings to reveal an archway that leads into a 10-foot-square room beyond.
Inside, you find a number of items:
* A small wooden coffer containing 500 ancient platinum coins bearing a serpent on one side and a crown on the other.
* An ivory carving of an elephant-headed humanoid gripping a tarnished scepter encrusted with jade.
* A wooden carving of a tiger with two small sapphires for eyes.
* A necklace with a single dragon tooth
* A beautifully made bucker in the shape of Iomedae's holy symbol
* A breastplate made of a glittering silver metal.
* A longsword sheathed in a leather scabbard worked to look like flames.
* A golden ring
* A simple pearl
* A small chunk of agate
* A fetish amulet of some sort, crafted out of leather
* A rolled-up strip of leather containing a long, thin fang.
Linah nods to the bat creature and tries to hide her discomfort. The mere phrasing that she would serve such a hideous diety left a bad taste in her mouth, but she masks her objection to the best of her ability. "I thank you for your offer but I do not require any of the items. All I ask for is that you leave the people of Tanaroa in peace", she says in a calm and clear voice.
She eyes the buckler shaped like the symbol of Iomedae. "Such a thing should not lie in the treasure hoard of a fell diety", she thinks to herself.
Kyson looks confused.
"We get presents? Oh...sweet!" Kyson runs over to look at the goods, completely forgetting the hideous evil of the bat thing. "Mind if I check things out on my own?"
If not, Kyson will cast Detect Magic and examine the items quickly (taking 10 for what he can). 24 spellcraft should get most stuff.
Sekathral eyes the leather amulet and the ring.
"Here, ma- I mean, sir. Your firyness. What're these?"
"It is," the creature answers Zstelian. "The spells on it add even more protection to the base mithral it is made from."
"That is fine," he answers Kyson.
He opens his senses to the magic, and is able to tell the breastplate, sword, ring, pearl, agate and amulet are magical, but the long, thing fang has such overwhelming power that it stuns you for a moment and you lose the spell.
"The ring allows you to turn invisible while the amulet hardens your skin and makes it more impervious to harm ."