Bollwerk lets a quick smile touch his lips:"Hopefully its a way out!"
"There's a small building inside a cave, with a symbol like a hammer on it. I think we should check it out." Kazul leads the party toward it.
"A hammer? I doubt it is a placard advertising a smithy. It isn't exactly a prime spot for customers. Perhaps dwarves or duergar." Dieter grimaces slightly. "I really, really hope it's not duergar."
"Perhaps the sneakier party members can exercise subterfuge to see what we can see." He follows behind Kazul.
A single sizable 20-foot-tall building remains in the center of this 30-foot-high cave, a bunkerlike structure with no windows and walls of worked stone blocks. A 10-foot-long carving of a hammer decorates the building’s facade. The ruins of collapsed outbuildings stand to either side.
Fabian looks at the hammer symbol and wonders whether he recognizes it. Having been raised by a Paladin of Iomedae, he learned a thing or two about religion....
Take 10 on Knowledge (Religion) for a result of 17.
Take 10 on Perception for a result of 15.
Looking around Bollwerk notices the symbol. Deep inside of his mind there is something, but...
. On the first look it seems defensible so he will move further in. Talking for the blind elfs benefit
"We have been walking quite long now. We need a place to rest. It is an odd building, strongly built, with the symbol of a hammer carved on the surface. We will clear it and use it to sleep. I would like to be on the sruface now, of course, but the exhausted mind does make mistakes my father used to say."
Kazul walks carefully toward building.
Lucille moves up to the opening of the side passage, musket in hand, and waits for everyone else to file into the area. She keeps a close eye on the entrance to the building, wary for trouble.
"If that's the hammer," she remarks to Bollwerk, "I wonder if we're the anvil, or the nail."
Nothing else seems out of the ordinary...except that the sickly green light seems to be emanating from this building. There is an old stone door, also with a hammer symbol, next to where Kazul stands.
Fabian shakes his head. "This place is... or was... consecrated to Torag. Torag is a righteous god. If the place has not been desecrated, we may be able to find some friends here. However, the sickly green light makes me fear that things may not all be well."
Bollwerk shrugs:"Only one way to find out! HELLO, ANYBODY IN THERE?"
"Sometimes the uncomplicated approach is the best." He shrugs. "HELLO! ARE YOU HOME?!"
Kazul follows suit and bangs on the door. "Dwarves, come out, if yer living. If not, never mind."
If no one is answering, Bollwerk will help the 3NCs to enter the cave and then lead the others into the Tempel.
"Iomedea, Lady of Virtue, your servants knock on Torags Tempel in need of shelter and safety. If you can have a good word for us!"
To the others:"Please, we should honor this place. Please treat carefully and with respect."
There is no sound but the echoes of your voices down the long hallways...
The door is stuck.
Fabian's brow furrows. "That is not a good sign," he says. "Shall we investigate? I fear that, to the same of my mother, I don't have the physique to push open a stuck door...."
Dieter nods to Bollwerk and makes an inviting gesture with his hands toward the door. "Would you mind?"
Looking around... Bollwerk nods."We need a place to sleep. Just be gentle!"
"It looks like you slipped in some loose gravel. Why not try again?"
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Seren steps up behind Bollwerk. Sure, he looks a little off, but he's been helpful, so she places a hand on him. "Maybe this will help some." A warm and calming sensation emanates from her hand and into Bollwerks' shoulder.
Bollwerk studies the door for a moment before applying some effort. With a rasping grind of stone on stone, the door slides open. The light reveals a short hall, approximately 5' wide and 20' long. There is a font of water at the far end, the now-familiar hammer symbol above it. There is a small bench along the right-hand wall, and another stone door on the left at the end of the hall.
As she enters the cave and looks around at the temple, Anevia becomes despondent. "I...I need to rest," she says, sitting on some rubble,"my leg...".
"Hrmmph." grunts Horgus. "Typical. You know, I've been thinking...we should split up. He says to the PCs. You know, to make better time and go get help. Then we can come back and rescue those pea...the others."
"Peasants!? PEASANTS!? Those 'peasants' saved you from the noose! You, of all people, afraid to acknowledge your own faith! You should ashamed of yourself in this holy place!" Anevia screams at him.
As if you could have saved me," the noble sniffs contemptuously, "you, thief and gutter rat!"
Anevia gives Horgus a dark look at this, then turns to face the wall, arms wrapped around her legs as she begins to sob. Horgus for his part, gives her a haughty look, then storms out of the cave.
"SILENCE. We walk together, we sleep together, we stay together. I do not care if you love each other, or hate each other. I care that upstairs, there is war, and our side just got massivly hammered. So by Iomedea you Horgus, will remember that dutys of nobility, as I remember the responsibility towards nobility. And you Anevia, will calm down. We are all hurt, our hope is lessened. Our food is limited and we are unsure of our way. But I do not CARE. We WILL find a way out, we will survive, and we all will learn that we have to trust each other, that no matter how you are born, we all have to do our DUTY! Am I crystal clear? If you need a private explanation, I will do so!" With an outburst, that is very atypical to the otherwise diplomatic Paladin, Bollwerk turns around.
At the very worst... they will now make me the focus of their anger. No matter, I have to stay strong! I have to!
Dieter takes a knee beside Anevia and lightly puts a hand on her shoulder. He speaks softly and soothingly. "Hey, hey... it's alright. The mean man is gone. What was he talking about? What's this about a noose and a thief?"
Kazul lets the other more social companions deal with the NPCs and leads the party inside the temple, his eyes scanning his surroundings with his darkvision.
Lucille follows as everyone moves into the cavern. She listens to the outburst, and then Bollwerk's dressing down. Afterwards, she leans over to Horgus and says,
"Mr. Gwerm, sir, I'm afraid I'm a bit mystified as to your attitude towards peasants. I'd probably understand it if I was a fancy woman, such as yourself, but in Alkenstar we're all peasants, even our nobles. Land's too poor for it to be any ways else. You can't pitch in and help your neighbors in a pinch, well sir, no one's gonna much miss you when you're gone.
"Now, I offered you a weapon earlier and you didn't take it. So you ain't a fighter. Which sets me to wondering how you were planning on helping us out. Perhaps guiding a blind warrior, or helping to support a woman walking with a bum leg? Those both sound neighborly to me. What do you think, sir? How are you going to help get us all home in one piece?"
Then she looks at him expectantly, waiting for an answer.
Kazul goes investigate the stone door down the hall, looking for traps, locks on the stone door, secret doors, etc.
Sir, I do not know you. And You were brought in this dire situation by divine intervention. I say divine intervention, because I think some divine hand not only let you survive, but you were unharmed. Sir, I want you to get home. I want everybody to come home. But the same divine hand, that protected you, also saved the others. You are here for a reason. As are we. Now you have about half a dozen people who do their best to protect you. I can only ask politly to let us do our job."
Horgus looks contemptuously at Lucille. "Hrmph. Typical." He starts to turn away when Bollwerk approaches and speaks. As he does, the noble's face softens a bit, then he relents. "I'm not a bad person, despite what they say. I'm no demon-worshipper!" Looking at Lucille, he says: "I apologize. You were right. I'm no fighter, nor a spell user, but if we make it out of this alive, I promise I will help as I can."
To Dieter and Bollwerk (who arrives some minutes later) Anevia speaks softly through her wrapped arms. "It's just that...I miss my wife, Irabeth. This place reminds me of her, and can't bear to think of what may have happened to her...up there..." She looks up at you, face streaked with dust and tears. " They thought he was a demon worshipper, you know...Horgus, that is. Irabeth sent me to check it out. I have...some skill at that sort of thing. He isn't one after all. He has a secret shrine to Abadar in his home. He doesn't know I know. He doesn't know my report kept him off of the block. He is a bit...difficult, you see..." With that, she sets her legs down on the cave floor. "Let's see what this is, and rest if we must. The sooner to get back up there."
(OOC: Does Fabian overhear what Anevia says?)
Bollwerk would ask Kazul, Fabian and Dieter to check the building a bit, and encourage the others to get a breath and prepare food and a place to rest, maybe check bandages, distribute water, in any case distract them.
Fabian sits down near Dieter, Bollwerk, and Anevia. "I heard what you said," he says to Anevia. "I know you were doing this investigation confidentially, and that normally you wouldn't want him to know that it was you who cleared his name. But the whole situation changed when the attack we saw. Perhaps it might be worth telling him what you told us? Not as a threat, not as a way of showing that you had power over him, but as a way of saying that you know he's a good citizen of Kenbares, and helping him realize that working together with all of us will be the best for everybody."
Listening to Fabians words, Bollwerk only nods.
Anevia sighs. "You are probably right. But it won't be now. I need time to calm down and think. There will be a time, everything has changed, and we need to work together."
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Seren happens to overhear, and looks between Anevia and Horgus. They thought he was a demon worshiper? Why would anyone want to worship them? It just makes no sense... But it's the comment about her wife that makes her truly saddened.
She slowly approaches Anevia, placing a hand on her shoulder. "I'm sure your wife is fine. I mean, if we were able to survive our... Descent, then surely she is fine where she is, right?" She pulls out her water skin and hands it to Anevia. "Drink up, and let's rest for a bit. I'll make sure we have enough water in a few hours, but for now we all need to stay well watered to keep our strength."
Anevia looks at Seren and smiles wanly. "You don't know Irabeth..." At that moment Horgus re-enters the cave. For a moment, he looks as if he is going to say something to Anevia, but rethinks it and moves to the opposite side of the small cavern. Anevia looks after him, then looks away.
Aravashnial, silent until now, clears his throat. "Ahem. This is all good, but we seem to have a...what did I hear you say? A glowing green temple of Torag? Methinks that may be higher on our priorities right now..."
Granted. Bollwerk will enter boldly into the next room.
Dieter does not comment, but continues to rub Anevia's shoulder in a comforting manner. At Aravashnial's suggestion, he draws his rapier and follows behind Bollwerk, ready for danger.
Lucille wonders for the millionth time since falling down this hole where Rusty might have ended up. The fool of a horse.
"I understand, Anevia. I think we've all got someone we care about lost in that chaos upstairs." Lucille checks her musket and files in behind the others. "So let's get this done. Time's awastin'."
Fabian stands and nods in the direction of Aravashnial. "Our elven friend is correct. We should investigate this temple, to see if it's secure and if it is a place we might rest."
He will follow Bollwerk.
Flashback: Bollwerk studies the door for a moment before applying some effort. With a rasping grind of stone on stone, the door slides open. The light reveals a short hall, approximately 5' wide and 20' long. There is a font of water at the far end, the now-familiar hammer symbol above it. There is a small bench along the right-hand wall, and another stone door on the left at the end of the hall.
Kazul has cleared the door of traps.