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Sat upon the well, Fialka looks up from her drawing to see the carnage beyond, a pile of bones and rusted armour. "Hold there!" she commands as inspiration strikes, scribbling furiously as she takes down a rough sketch of the aftermath fot a later painting.
"Perfect, now, let us get to rubbing eh?" she smirks walking into the crypt.
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The door in the northeast corner of the room is unlocked and unbarred, though the dust that falls as you open it indicates long disuse. Most of the everburning lanterns hanging in the hall before you are dark, but the dimness does not diminish the grandeur of this corridor. Along the north wall stand several statues, each depicting an angel or other good outsider. Some are depicted in dramatic poses befitting a holy warrior. Others have heads bowed in eternal contemplation and hands cupping glass spheres. The southern wall bears a large set of double doors, but these doors are boarded up. Smaller doors stand at opposite ends of the hall (including the one you just opened). A few bits of stone and other debris litter the floor and a musty odor hangs in the air.
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Tellerin sneezes immediately after the last skeleton falls, sending snot flying across the dusty floors of the crypt. "Ah, sorry, crypt dust. I'll clean that up."
He rubs again at his arms and casts prestidigitation to clean things up a little. It's clear from his fussing about that his earlier anger at Gastidem is no longer on top of his mind. Instead, as he works he watches with curiosity as Pa Us reveals the passage in the central sarcophagus.
He exchanges a glance with Cupper. "Hey Cups, think you can take a look down there? If there is anything dangerous, come right back. Come back and give me a lick if it gets bigger and continues. "
Tellerin casts dancing lights and sends them down into the crack to provide light for the fox.
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As the small-sized Sosuke contemplates the difficult task of squeezing into this narrow crack, Cupper darts in without difficulty. He emerges a moment later dragging a jangling brass contraption that, as Tellerin picks it up, appears to be a set of brass scales. For some reason, you think Major Colson Maldris would be very happy to have these.
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Tellerin stows the scales in his pack and gives Cupper a thumbs up "Nice find, Cups! I've got the feeling these scales have a good story to tell, if we find who they belong to." He dusts his hands off and takes another long look at the room.
"This place was all boarded up, and as a temple to an Empyreal Lord there shouldn't have been undead here. So, where did those skeletons come from? Its a real puzzle." Tellerin runs a hand through his hair as he thinks. He pokes around the room looking for hidden exits or entrances, or to find if the skeletons came from the sarcophagi in here.
Assuming he doesn't find anything he takes a peek in the northern room and crosses his arms. "I think its past time to find our Sifkesh worshipping leader and show him how this ends. I'd guess he's in the last part of the temple. That room next to the cathedral, if you could call it that."
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As Seidr steps into the hallway, sketchbook in hand, the wings of the nearest statue fall down, striking her squarely!
After careful examination, the rest of the statues look solid enough. You don't think any others are likely to repeat the attack.
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As Seidr stows her wand after healing herself, and Tellerin examine the statues, suddenly the door at the far end of the room is kicked open to reveal a creature whose small but bloated frame shudders with each heaving step. It points at you, shrieks and rushes forward. Despite its shape, the thing moves with surprising quickness.
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Feeling less of a fool upon realizing that none of his comrades have knowledge about this fat creature either, Pa Us sees they are attacking and not talking to this thing, so he springs into action.
Pa Us calls upon his training a follower of Apsu the Great Dragon God, and, emulating the dragons, he rushes through his friends, charging the creature to deliver a powerful blow.
Racing down the corridor, he pulls the strange seven-branched sword from his back... and, arriving at his target, swings it and... connects.
• swift - take Dragon Style (can charge through allies)
• full round action - charge: move + hit
• free action: pulling out weapon as part of a move (w.+1 BAB)
Charged : -2 AC
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Wincing as the statues crashes down upon them, Fialka starts examing the statues with a keen eye, marvelling at the workmanship between the different holy servants. Smiling she pulls out her sketch book as they are suddenly set upon by a small fiend!
"Urgh! A Dretch. Nasty creatures! Cold iron or holy weapons!" she calls out as she calls out in her usual soft tones. However by tr time she mentions the word 'holy' there is a dark echo toher words as if being spoken by two beings at once.
Her hair now shock white and her skin darkening to a deep grey, Fialka points at the Dretch with a derisive laugh "Feel your brain bleed!". The demon feels an attack though no arcane words leave her mouth.
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Tellerin fires, his aim guided by Seidr's divine call, his bolt striking the creature squarely though doing less damage than expected. Fialka takes on her dark half and assaults the creature's mind. It screams and grabs its head as blood begins to trickle from its nose. Distracted, it is unable to defend itself as Pa Us nimble charges forward and strikes, his odd sword leaving a deep wound.
Blood flows from its ears now, as the psychic wound left by Fialka continues to resonate . Badly wounded, the creature lashes out at the only target in front of it, Pa Us.
, damgage.
, damgage.
, damgage.
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Her power building, Fialka lets out a harsh laugh as the Dretch begins to bleed, the strange echoing voice growing stronger as he maintains her manifestation. Stepping behind Seidr, the Psychic reaches out with her mind once more, this time not bothering to try and overpower the poor creature but trying to hurt it again.
"Bleed and fall!" she chants.
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Pa Us looks at the poor thing on the ground, thinking it must've been someone before.
Then he takes a slender willowy wand out and taps himself, mumbling words of power... and is slightly surprised when it works right away, and heals his wounds.
Putting the wand away, Pa Us is ready to move on: "Off to meet the Poobah!"
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As the demon bleeds and falls, Fialka freezes and starts to twitch as if going through an internal struggle. Her skin begins to fade back to it's normal hue but suddenly reverts back to it's grey tone. Growling like a beast, the struggle begins again.
A few heartbeats later, The normal Fialka regains control, her hair changing back to brown and her skin flawless alabaster. Witha blink her eyes go to their normal mis-matched colour aswell.
"Hmm, yes." She says non-chalantly. "We should question this Dakang, clearly a servant of Sifkesh."
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"We can wait. We would very much like to see him though."
says Vagantem with a sigh.
"Really, one must wonder what the leader of a temple of enlightenment is doing hiding in his room when one of his people is busy cutting fingers off his followers, another hangs dead in the kitchen. Speaking of the kitchen why does he allow the spirit thre to encourage each to take their own lives? Upstairs the history texts are edited, and here we are, visitors who have yet to be greeted by man himself. If man indeed he is."
She pauses. "And why would the leader of a group seeing enlightenment, hidden away in a demi-plane need to keep a group of guards when there are so few visitors - or is he worried about his followers finding something out?"
She thinks for a moment longer before adding. "And don't even get me started on the undead hanging around in the outskirts of the temple. But I guess he needs his beauty sleep? That is much more important than any of these matters."
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While Vagantem goes off on a tirade of accusations, Tellerin casts detect magic off to one side, concentrates to maintain it and then peeks past Sosuke long enough to check if there are any magical auras hanging around the aasimar guards. The moment he gets a feel for it, he heads back to his previous position.
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Vildeis, I fear this place may not be purified without bloodshed. Let your servant pay that cost instead of the demons' victims.
Friends, you must see that this place has gone dreadfully awry. Vagantem's litany of wrongs aside, there are reasons to believe that a demon's taint lies upon your monastery. My companion, she gestures to Fialka, has uncovered hidden messages within your mantras. Have they been changed recently? They bear the influence of Sifkesh, the demon lord of heresy.
What a prize she will have won if we must battle believers even to speak with your leader.
I beg you, let us pass. I swear that we will give Dakang our ear. I pray he will be a leader in cleansing this place. Only if he does not seek Korada's forgiveness will any harm come to him.
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They listen carefully as the members of your party speak up, a look of horror growing on their faces as more and more evidence of wrongdoing is presented.
"I...if what you say is true, then something is clearly amiss in this temple", the Aasimar in front says. "None of those things are consistent with the teachings of Korda! We will not stop you. Nay, we shall help you. If you will accompany me to the chapel I shall call forth the holy waters of Korda to flow into the sacred fountain there. Any who dip their weapons into this fountain shall surely feel Korda's blessing, should Dakang's apparent treachery lead to violence."
The lead guard walks you down to the chapel and stops before a dry fountain. She bows her head and mouths a silent prayer, and the fountain springs to life, water gurgling forth to fill the basin.
"Submerge your weapons in this holy water, and they shall strike true against evil. If Dakang is innocent, then the effects of this water shall not hurt him."
This transmutation makes a weapon strike true against evil foes. The weapon is treated as having a +1 enhancement bonus for the purpose of bypassing the DR of evil creatures or striking evil incorporeal creatures (though the spell doesn’t grant an actual enhancement bonus). The weapon also becomes good-aligned, which means it can bypass the DR of certain creatures. (This effect overrides and suppresses any other alignment the weapon might have.) Individual arrows or bolts can be transmuted, but affected projectile weapons (such as bows) don’t confer the benefit to the projectiles they shoot.
In addition, all critical hit rolls against evil foes are automatically successful, so every threat is a critical hit. This last effect does not apply to any weapon that already has a magical effect related to critical hits, such as a keen weapon or a vorpal sword.