After finding a safe place to secure his horse if it can't go through, Nedyr attempts to move through the bramble quietly and safely
He comes through with a minor cut or two Ow.
Mahdrig rolls her eyes as Nedyr "stealths" through the bramble, beckoning the swordsman to her side.
"Twixt you and Markov, it's a miracle we've not been ravaged!" Mahdrig's stern expression quickly melts away. She points to the pool and broken steps.
"We should wait for the others before we venture forth. Be ready, should Perlavish's ursine tale prove true. Though I wonder ... these barriers speak to defense and seem hewed by man, rather than by nature."
Markov sighs as he is not getting anywhere with this. "Damn it. Alright, lemme see how well I can crawl under here..." He puts away his axe and does his best to avoid the thorns as he crawls through.
Finally making it through, he curses like hell and starts taking his frustration on the brambles with his axe. He checks his progress before shouting out again.
Nedyr knows he's done better in the past than this, and is a bit sheepish. Then he sees the cavalier come through "Ouch. Markov, On second thought, maybe you should get some healing first... if we do meet a bear, you're half eaten already."
Markov stops in mid swing and looks over his shoulder to Nedyr and takes a deep breath. "Ya don't think I know that... We're in someplace dangerous... And have something keeping us here. You two can see about patching me up while I work on making an escape route if things go south." He growls out as he then continues his swing, trying to cut the brambles at the root.
"Markov, I admire your... tenacity,"Mahdrig says, barely suppressing her giggles.
She reaches out and gently touches the cavalier's wounds, her other hand upon her holy symbol.
Markov grunts when he receives healing. "Thanks." He continues to hack away at the brambles.
After the others have gone through, Orrik grunts. This is going to be unpleasant.
Before going in, he casts a spell on himself, summoning a barrier of force to protect him as would armor. He does not know if this will protect him from the thorns but he figures it is worth a try.
(Cast Mage Armor.)
That done, he starts tearing his way through the thorns....
Markov holds off swinging when he hears something coming through the brambles. "Orrik? Is that you?" Markov tries to peer into the brambles to see what is coming.
Markov spins around with axe in hand and curses. "Ah... By Iomedae's shiny breastplate! That is a really big bear..." He moves forward and his body begins to shift and change. His skin seems thicker as more hair grows all over, looking more rugged. His face looks more wolf like as well.
Growling, Markov looks towards the bear and points his battle axe to it. "I will defeat you!" As he shouts out in a challenge.
Nedyr has to confess that Markov's confidence is contagious. While the cavalier takes on the creature face (and claws and teeth) first, Nedyr finds himself weaving to its flank and then stabbing from the side.
"You know, this situation has gotten hairy really fast..." He quips nervously as that attempt was not his best.
Markov can only mutter a single word before feeling the brunt of the bear's weight against his shield. "S&!#..." He pushes back to make his way to flank with Nedyr and swing his battle axe at the neck of the bear.
"Something's off about this bear!" Orrik says.
Can Orrik tell anything else?
Challenged by the bear, Orrik will summon a glob of acid over the bear which (if he aims it right) splashes down on it.
(Casting Acid Splash.)
To the bear, Mahdrig shouts, "I wish we were on speaking terms! You are sick, we coulda helped!"
Mahdrig calls in a favor to Feronia, firing bolts of fire from her hand at the bear (assuming 30' range, and it's a ranged touch attack.)
Markov continues his assault on the bear.
He can't help but to grin at this conflict. "Bear! I will cut you down!"
"I think it likes the flavor of you," Nedyr warns, and tries to work the sides lunging to pierce its thick hide
Nedyr's rapier strikes deep into a joint, piercing fur, flesh, and sinew.
Mahdrig narrows her eyes and draws fire from her faith, expelling the flames from her fingertips.
Orrik raises one eyebrow at what Mahdrig says. "This bear -- you think we can help it? Killing it probably wont help!"
Although what the druid has said has given him pause, the fact that the bear is attacking the group overrides that. Orrik holds up his hand in a fist, speaks some arcane words, and a magical bolt of force shoots unerringly out of the ring on his hand towards the bear.
"I think we just did help it, eerr , him." Nedyr says in silent amazement at the transformation of not only dead bear to smiling man to skeleton but the bursting vibrancy of the shrine.
"Ha... Ha... Glad thats over... Huh?" As Markov begins to speak as the bear falls, but then goes quiet as the bear shrinks and change into a elderly old man, then turning to dust. Can't really begin to understand it when the place itself begins to change. As things clear and grow in brighter shades. He looks around with a stumped look, nearly letting his axe slip out of his grasp as he looks around in wonder. Huh? What... Is this? What happened.... Did... Did we do that?
Regaining himself, Markov stows his axe and moves over to the pool and gazes into it. It is completely clear... That bear might have been a curse to this place? Maybe? He wonders. Turning to Orrik and Mahdrig, Markovv voices his concern. "Mahdrig, Orrik? What just happened here? Did we... Did we break a curse or something?" As he gestures to the surroundings.
"It looks like we might have? Somehow that man was trapped in that bear, and from the looks of the rest of this temple upon the man's release, it may have been connected to a corruption of the temple."
How much can Orrik figure out?
Orrik's eyes glaze over briefly.
He then looks at the pool. "The water seems to have cleaned up when we killed the bear. And, there's something in there...."
"...can anybody else see it? All I'm seeing are glints of sunlight reflecting off of ripples in the water."
Nedyr is shocked by the appearance of the creature. If I live to be a thousand years, I shall never forg...
Then he forgets.
"...can anybody else see it? All I'm seeing are glints of sunlight reflecting off of ripples in the water."
"mmm?" He jerks his head over at the clear water
"I don't see anything either, though the water looks very fresh indeed. Maybe it wasn't so bad to start with?"
With everything beginning to settle down, Markov can't help but to stare at the twig creature. "What the..."
He follows the sound of items falling into the water and turns back to the bushes. Markov tilts his head as he wonders why he was looking over this way. He shrugs as he follows the sounds of his compatriots about something in the pool. "Huh? What do you mean there is something in there? Lemme look.
Seeing a dagger and the holy symbol, Markov points it out to the others. "Hey... Right there. Theres a dagger and a symbol..."
"... Well, looks like a tiny bow."
Orrik says, "Pull it out, let me take a look at it."
"what's this?" He says startled as his minor scrapes heal as if they never were. "Amazing..."
Mahdrig narrows her eyes as the stick-figure blends back into the forest. Under her breath she mutters,
"Taldor... Forty summers..."
Orrik turns to Mahdrig. "What's that?"
Looking at the dagger, he says, "A holy symbol of Erastil."
He looks around the area of the temple as a whole. Does he recognize it as likely to have been a temple to Erastil? (Take 10 on Knowledge (Religion) for a result of 18.)
"We need to tell Jhod about this, I think." Nedyr says as Ole Dead Eye's name is mentioned
Madrig turns to her fellow explorers, her head cocked sideways, as if she can't believe they didn't hear the twiggie-thing.
"Why are all eyes on me? Yeh did see the twig-man thereabouts, didn't yeh? This best not be a prank, you lot. I saw him CLEAR AS DAYLIGHT ON A MOTTLED LOG. Limber fellow, about yea high." Mahdrig guesses the twig's size with an outstretched palm.
The druid grows exasperated as her fellows' visages show no recollection.
"Gozreh's Guts, maybe I am looney after all. The twig-man, he spoke. You must believe me. This is a temple to Erastil, at least I think it is. Or was. There was conflict with Taldor, and the bear we saw was sacrificed with dark magic, and this place was cursed. That knife, that symbol are part-and-parcel of the curse."
Mahdrig takes note of their surroundings.
"That's what the twig-man said. There was conflict, and the bear we saw was sacrificed by someone, and the ritual put a curse on this grove. Maybe the cardinals and chickadees will sing here soon."
Markov simply stares at Mahdrig as she explained the so called creature she saw. "A what now?..." He simply shakes his head at her story. What in the world is she talking about? A twig man thing? What? Whats next? Erastil ridding a pink unicorn? He files his thoughts far in the back of his mind, for if it was truly there, it might have been very powerful. And if that is true, we were all lucky.
Shrugging, Markov looks at the dagger, with new found caution. And by what she said, this dagger is what helped cause that curse? I don't know... But, a adamantine dagger has its uses. He weights the dagger in his hand and then passes it to Nedyr. "You seem a bit more talented with such blades. Hold onto it Nedyr. And Mahdrig..." He walks over to the opening of the thicket bushes where she said that creature was. He looks around for any unusual tracks there.
"You said it was right here? I don't think I see... Hey, there is a opening here through the thicket." Markov carefully walks through and whistles. And you can hear nickering from one of the horses and hoof steps. And after a bit, Markov leads his horse Snow through the gap. "Well... I don't know about a twig man, but I know of hideouts. And this is a very good one at that. By how well that passage is hidden. This place makes a good campsite as well, don't you think?"
If no one objects, he begins to bring the horses through the passage so they are safe within. And after the last horse, Markov changes back into his human form.
Shrugging, Markov looks at the dagger, with new found caution. And by what she said, this dagger is what helped cause that curse? I don't know... But, a adamantine dagger has its uses. He weights the dagger in his hand and then passes it to Nedyr. "You seem a bit more talented with such blades. Hold onto it Nedyr. And Mahdrig..." He walks over to the opening of the thicket bushes where she said that creature was. He looks around for any unusual tracks there.
Nedyr had also been staring at Mahdrig in a dubious way, but he takes the dagger from Markov, "Mmm... could be useful but its not going to curse me, is it? She said it was part and parcel of the curse. I've been cursed AT but I'm pretty sure I don't want to have an actual curse on me."