[PFS - PbP Game Day 2] #3-21: The Temple of Empyreal Enlightenment (Inactive)

Game Master StephNyan

Letting the more eloquent Valador give the hard news, Oliana takes his on his first questions.

"Only that he was a noble, heroic, and stalwart proponent of peace. That and the reason we think he disappeared is that he was still on the battlefield when Hao Jin 'preserved' it in this tapestry." She pauses, "As for a way back," she produces the amulet, "this amulet belonged to your ancestor, and should serve well as an anchor to the Material Plane if you return with us. But it belongs to you, so you should have it either way." She hands him the trinket.

That about covers the majority of it I suppose.

What Oliana says is true. Your presence outside the tapestry would mean a great deal to a many people, but the decision is ultimately yours. I understand that it's a lot to take in all at once, and we're not here to force you into doing anything. If you do leave, you could take your knowledge of Korada with you and reach many, many more people.

Anyways, friend, we have a great deal more work to do here."

Valador begins to step past Zhuang but pauses for a moment and places a hand on the mans shoulder and looks over to him.

Think it over, and yes, keep the amulet. It belongs to your family, you should keep it as a reminder of the great things your line has done... Before I leave I promise I will return to you and accept whatever decision you make, and should you need anything, we will be within the temple... Just come find us.

And with a small pat to the mans shoulder he continues past and leaves the room, returning to the hall.

@Valador: we should probably roll Diplomacy...emphasis on we
Diplomacy: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (2) + 1 = 3

( GM, do you need me to roll? Not sure on your take on Diplomacy in matters like this. )

Gunthorn walks down the hallway taking note of anything that might appear interesting or informative. He then tries the double door to see if it is unlocked, and if it is, takes a look beyond to see if it leads to the garden or some other area of interest.

Zhuang shakes his head. "I... I can't, master Dakang needs me here. Sorry I can't help you."

Gunthorn walks down the hallway and tries to open some of the doors he sees. Another room is revealed.

A12. Library

This spacious room is crammed with narrow bookshelves and large tables. Many shelves are empty and the remaining scrolls and tomes seem tattered and sagging. A small open door looks into a tidy office. The room is clean and bright despite a general atmosphere of abandonment. Several windows look into a garden to the west.

Meanwhile Di Duang exits the chapel and walks to the first party members she sees. "The service is about to start and everyone's slowly moving for the chapel. Please come join us in the chapel, if you wish to attend the service. Master Dakang will be available afterward."

@Valador: You may want to return later. You'll need Diplomacy then.

The map's updated.

As he stands in the hallway he takes down a few quick notes about what he saw in the meditation room and some side notes concerning his interaction with Zhuang. Once finished he folds the notes and slides them into his pocket, just in time to see Di Duang step into the hall.

Ah, so the time to see who this Dakang person is is finally here...

He gives the lady a nod.

"Thank you, miss..."

Valador slips past the lady and into the chapel, standing in the back of the room near the door, propping himself up against the wall.

Oliana heads out to the service, not wanting to miss seeing the leader. She has a feeling he's going to be the only one with their head on straight around here.

Following Oliana, Alia follows her to the service, take a spot near the falconer.

"This must be the library the society was interested in." Gunthorn says quietly to himself. He takes some time to give the office and library a good search and begin recording what is there.

Maybe they've already got a list of what's here. That would save a lot of time and trouble

Take 20 to search. 20+7=27

Zhuang moves out of the meditation room, and follows Di Duang to the chapel. Many of the other inhabitants of the temple have also joined inside the chapel. Master Dakang is yet to arrive, but everyone's very quiet.

---

Meanwhile Gunthorn walks into the library. When he does, Gunthorn notices a human woman moving from behind the shelves. She seems somewhat startled when she sees Gunthorn, but gives him a hesitant nod. The woman then seats herself at one the tables, and starts reading from a tome she was holding.

Gunthorn starts searching the library for a list to save him some time. Gunthorn's sharp thinking saves him at least a day's worth of reading books when he finds a centuries-old catalog. The old catalog shows which holy texts the library should contain. It'll still take considerable time to check if every book on the list is indeed in the library.

In addition to the catalog Gunthorn also finds a scroll of lesser restoration and a manual of calm reflection (keyed to Korada).

The map had apparently moved so the characters were positioned wrong. I placed it back in its original position, but those who've moved after my previous post may have ended up in a slightly different spot.

Upon the arrival of all the occupants, Valador studies each one as they enter. Looking for anything that may be a problem...

Would like to Detect Evil within the room, no specific target, just checking for auras inside the room.

Zandibus follows along, curious but taking note that everyone seems to attend the service. Instructing Ambroscious to stay out in the corridor he takes a seat at the back of the room, standing upon it to get a good view over the crowd of too tall folk.

The woman in the library jumps up. "The time!" She then runs out of the library.

---

Three aasimars in armor enter the chapel through a curtain in the southwest corner of the room. A human woman, looking as if she's in a hurry, comes running into the chapel at the same moment. She takes a seat next to Valdor and Zandibus.

Not a minute after the aasimars have entered the chapel, an obese human man steps confidently to the podium on the high balcony in the chapel. He is draped in layers of cloth trimmed with small bells that jingle lightly as he moves. The man’s bald head is surrounded by a thin fringe of gray hair, but the lower half of his face is wrapped in a white silk scarf stitched with a line of unusual double-arrow symbols. (He looks different on the map, but I couldn't find a picture resembling these looks.)

The man on the balcony opens the service by addressing the visiting Pathfinders. "Welcome, dear visitors. My name's Dakang, and I lead the people in this holy place. It's a delight to have you with us during this service."

Dakang leading the congregation in a few meditative stretches. Soon, Dakang launches into a lengthy sermon about Korada’s holy city of Vantian, City of Open Windows, whose sacred residents are eternally engaged in prayer and maintenance of the city.

Updated the map.

Having established a baseline by examining everyone as they entered, Valador was able to detect the evil within Dakang as he enters...

There are way too many people in here to start a scene... We couldn't fight everyone here, and we don't even know if they're aware of their leaders true nature. I must bide my time for the right moment...

Grabbing pen and parchment Valador writes down what appears to be sermon notes, but in actuality he's writing a note explaining his suspicions about Dakang. He then passes it to Zandibus discreetly.

Would like to take 10 on an untrained Sleight of Hand check if possible to pass the note unnoticed.

( Sorry for the short post, I'm stuck in a class and on my phone... )

Espada comes into the library with the dwarf. She is not in the mood to listen to a Sermon.

Did you find anything, Gunthorn? Maybe I can help you.

While crossing the room, she takes a gander at the opened book on the table.

( GM, was Valador able to determine the strength of the evil? Just so he can gauge the person. )

With every one of the inhabitants focused on Dakang and his sermon, and Valador and Zandibus positioned at the back of the room, the note's passed without anyone else noticing it.

After scanning the room for evil auras and finding just one, Valador focuses his detect evil on the source of the evil aura: Dakang. Valador's detect evil directly stops when the spell connects with Dakang's strong evil aura, and Valador feels like he's taken a jab in his stomach. (Stunned for 6 seconds.)

------

Espada walks into the library and checks the tome left on the table by the woman who'd just left. It's just a random text from the library’s collection.

------

After his sermon, Dakang instructs his worshipers withe following words: "Assume the symbols of celestial silence and contemplation."

The worshipers produce vials of ink and begin marking each other’s faces with double-arrow symbols above and below the eyes and above and below the mouth. The worshipers attempt to do this in reverent silence. They gesture to the party members present in the chapel, offering to decorate their mouths and eyes as well. Neither the aasimars nor Dakang participate in this ritual.

Valador slightly doubles over, placing his hands on the seat in front of him to brace himself as he finds himself overwhelmed... He does his best to play it off.

"Apologies, I've found myself a bit light headed... But I'll be fine. Carry on..."

He takes a moment to collect himself, relying on his team mates at the moment while he recovers.

Gunthorn nods politely to the woman as she leaves and then returns to his examination of the library. Finding himself alone for a bit, he slips the two scrolls into his robe along with the catalog.

When Espada joins the dwarf he shows her the scrolls and catalog. "I found these so far. The scrolls might come in handy and the catalog should certainly save us some time when it comes to recording everything that is kept in here."

"Of course it will still take quite a bit of time to see if everything listed is actually here." He says to her with a heavy sigh. "However, with the temple unexpectedly inhabited perhaps we should save that task for later and instead do a quick survey of the garden." He adds gazing through the windows that look into the temple's garden area. "What do you think?"

The flamboyant gnome crumples Valador's note having read it, nodding as he slides it into a pocket.

Zandibus waves off the face painting for himself and Valador whispering "We'll just follow along for the moment, trying to get a sense of things you know. Religion isn't something to be taken lightly after all."

While regaining his composure, Valador takes time to observe the face painting, choosing not to participate as well.

I would like to take 10 (+5) on Perception to observe the face paintings.

He raises a hand and waves away anyone who tries to approach him.

"No thank you. I'm afraid I must pass. Religious preferences and all..."

"Just him? What about the Aasimars?" Zandibus whispers to Valador, watching the face painting with interest.

Valador cuts a very quick and subtle glance to Zandibus and shakes his head NO in regards to the aasimar in the room. He quickly shifts his glance afterwards towards something else, anything else to not draw any attention.

Oliana, having learned her lesson the first time, refused to be painted. She instead goes around to the library, and pokes her head in, and seeing the garden outside thinks, Finally, then says to Gunthorn and Espada "Now that my time has been sufficiently wasted, does anyone want to join me in the garden?" she doesn't wait for their responses, she simply follows Tsongre down the hall.

He had jumped off at the word "join" and was now floating up the hall. "Keep a weather eye," she says to her feathered friend.

Perception: Tsongre: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (11) + 6 = 17

Espada nods to Gunthorn. "OK, lets follow the cheery half-elf. It'll be better if no one walks alone in this place. Something is not right" says and goes out to the garden.

"We were just heading in that direction." Gunthorn says to Oliana as he gathers up his things and follows the other two out to the garden.

Some of the worshipers give Oliana the evil eye when she leaves the chapel. "Unrespectful," some of the worshipers mutter.

However, the worshipers do not push the Pathfinders to participate in the painting ritual. They actually seem very open about the Pathfinder's choice.

Valador concludes that the paintings markings look much like stitches over the mouth and eyes.

------

As Oliana walks to the end of the corridor she arrives in a small hall with two tables and several chairs. There are double doors in the middle of the western wall, and there's a single door in the hall's northwest corner.

Before Oliana reaches the door, just when Espada and Gunthorn join her in the corridor, she feels her head spin. (Oliana, please roll a Fort save.)

I'm starting to hate how I wrote my character...poor so she eats when she can, wild so she can't stand being inside...Happy to be the guinea pig!

Fort: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (18) + 2 = 20

Chupalo!

A worried look crosses Alia's face as Oliana leaves. Not good. And where are Gunthorn and Espada? I don't like this.

Glancing over at Valador and Zandibus, she notices them leaning into each other, perhaps conversing covertly. Not good, at all.

Should I stay, or should I go? The service is at some ritual involving face-painting, but when she is offered a chance at it, she wanly smiles and shakes her head, as she has done here, before.

Let's give it to the end of the service. Then we really need to regroup. Alia moves to the back of the room, closest to the doors, ready to move if she hears any of the other pathfinders cry out.

It looks... like stitches. Whatever the hell this is, it resembles some more unsavory than holy... I'm not sure I know what this is.

Knowledge Religion: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (13) + 4 = 17

Whatever it is, Valador's priorities have shifted. His creed compels him to get to the bottom of whatever is transpiring in this temple. The wishes of the Society can wait a little longer, this temple isn't going anywhere any time soon...

However, the strength of the aura coming from Dakang is indication that he's too much for Valador to handle along.

We must regroup and I must tell everyone what's going on...

Valador quietly steps to the exit, offering a slight bow before stepping out to indicate he means no disrespect. Outside the hall he stops to see where the hell everyone ran off to...

As Valador brushes by her, a dark look clouding his face, Alia motions to Zandibus: Let's go!

Alia follows the striding paladin, smiling apologetically at any turned supplicants.

"Might be something that we ate", she mumbles at them, as she heads out of the chamber.

Quietly, once they are out of the room and the doors are closed, Alia accosts the armored aasimar.

"What's going on?" she whispers at Valador.

Zandibus elects to stay in case anything else is revealed during the service. He is wary, but too self confident to be really worried by goings on and resolves to take mental note so he can relay anything else suspicious to his fellow Pathfinders.

Valador keeps his back to the door and speaks with a hushed tone, one hand reaching out and guiding Alia close enough to here what he has to say.

"I'm detecting a strong presence of evil coming from Dakang. No one else is projecting anything but him, at least from what I can tell... I'm not sure what's really going on in this place, but it can't be good.

I'll confront him alone, but everyone's help would be much appreciated. His presence was... overwhelming to say the least. I don't know if I could handle it by myself."

Valador's eyes continually shift from side to side, keeping watching while he relays his suspicions.

"Whatever happens... I need to act soon. I'm sure he's aware that I'm suspicious of him."

"Well, exploration mission aside, I think that we can all agree that whatever is going on here needs to be addressed. I honestly think that everyone will agree. And if we all agree, we are stronger as a team, than as individuals making piecemeal attempts."

Alia looks about. Let's go get the others, and then figure out what we want to do about this 'Dakang'.

Oliana's head stops spinning, and she feels fine again.

------

Valador digs deep inside his memories, but he doesn't remember anything about people painting stitches on their faces.

------

Once the face-inking is complete, Dakang breaks the silence with a command. "Wash the symbols from your face and enjoy the beautiful day Korada has provided."

The worshipers cheerfully wash the symbols from each other’s faces and most exit the chapel to return to their normal business. Several of them pass the party members in the corridor, and some stand still to talk to each other.

One of the humans whispers, still within range of Valador and Alia, to the halfling next to him. "The gnome was the only one to show some respect and not leave before the end. If you don't want to participate, just don't. I really don't get why they participate and just leave."

The map's updated.

Oliana alerts the teammates behind her about the feeling she's just had, and asks them if any of them can detect magic. She's wary to continue until she knows it's safe.

"Fascinating what does the face paint symbolize again exactly?" Zandibus asks before making his excuses and going to find the rest of his group with Ambroscious.

He detects magic for Oliana when she asks scanning the area she indicates.

I moved your icon, Zandibus, and Ambroscious, so that you are next to Oliana: I am hoping that that is alright.

Seeing Zandibus move up the northern corridor, Alia motions to Valador, and hurries after the sylvan.

One of the halflings replies to Zandibus' question. "We paint these symbols on our faces, then wash them off to cleanse ourselves. We do this every day, so we may receive the blessing of Koroda."

"It's good for you to have stayed until the end," one of the human worshipers says to Zandibus, "Some of your friends are rather rude."

Zandibus uses detect magic on Oliana, but he doesn't detect anything.

------

The woman who was in the library earlier enters it again. Gastidem passes the party members in the halway, and without noticing what's going on he passes them. He opens the double doors on the western side of the hall, and moves into what's obviously the garden.

Gunthorn shakes his head, "Unfortunately I have no way of sensing magical energies. However, it could still be some effect from the food you ate." He says before the others arrive.

As the others arrive, he steps around the corner and follows Gastidem to the doors in order to get a look at the garden without actually entering it yet.

Perception: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (15) + 7 = 22

Valador follows shortly behind Alia, taking a few moments to try and feel out any evil coming from the people they pass in the hallways...

Detect Evil on any individuals they happen to pass along the way in the hallway.

"Right, well for the moment I suggest we get on with our mission. What shall we do next. Maybe save the crypts for last?" Zandibus says, keeping an eye out to see if anyone enters the meditation room.

"Neither do I, I'm afraid, But there is one way to know." says Espada while going into the garden, gritting the teeth.

While Zandibus speaks he keeps an eye out to see if anyone enters the meditation room. It's hard to see from his current position, and Zandibus will have to go to the meditation room to find out.

A13. Garden

Espada moves over to Gunthorn, who's looking through the door that was left open by Gastidem. Espada opens the door further, so she and Gunthorn get to see most of the garden. The temple garden is badly overgrown with tangled vegetation. Vines and briars climb the temple walls on three sides, surrounding the large windows into the chapel and the smaller windows into the library. The garden itself is a profusion of flowering bushes and weeds. Except for a clear space in the center of the garden, the dense weeds grow taller than an adult human. At the center of the garden sits a crumbling fountain, long dry, with a statue of a noble turtle in the center. Heaps of foliage choke two similar fountains, each with a large stone orb resting in the fountain’s center.

Gastidem stands next to the middle fountain, and turns around to see who opens the door to the garden. "Ah, hello! You've come to visit our temple garden? It's nice weather."

The map's updated.

Valador steps quickly through the hallways, passing by the temple occupants in haste to meet up with his allies. As he strolls up to the rest of the group he begins to inform them of his suspicions...

"Everyone, we have a prob-" he stops mid sentence as he detects something foul within the garden.

Great, what now..? This situation just keeps on decaying...

Valador brushes past Gunthorn and Espada, stepping inside the garden area.

"Indeed the weather is nice, but can one with such malicious intentions such as yourself even enjoy something so nice?" Valador's tone increases to just under a shout. His mild manner starting to wear thin.

Sense Motive: 1d20 ⇒ 8

"What the hell is going on in this place? And spare me the crap lies, I can smell the maliciousness pouring from you like rotting meat. So do yourself a favor and tell me what's happening here... as his tone rises a bright halo begins to manifest above his crown, gaining brightness as his temper flares.

I don't have time to pussyfoot around with this trash...

Intimidate: 1d20 + 3 + 2 ⇒ (13) + 3 + 2 = 18

( Oh, I also believe there is a bonus to Intimidate if I'm larger. )

@Valador: Indeed there is.

"I... I didn't... how did you...?!" Gastidem seems shocked that Valador is onto something. "O-okay, I admit! I was going to trick you into putting hand in the turtle statue! S-sorry! I'm sorry!"

It's rather obvious Gastidem's talking about something entirely different, but it may be useful to find out what the gnome's actually hiding. After all, Gastidem already think Valador knows. "How did you know I was going to trick you?!"

Oliana follows cautiously behind her teammates, and Tsongre alights on her shoulder as she witnesses Valador's inquisition at his side.

Valador moves in closer to Gastidem, one hand reaching back with one hand, placing it on the hilt of his blade.

"Because I can sense the hate, lies and evil pouring from you. I sense all of that and more inside Dakang. So tell me... what else is going on here in this temple aside from your schemes here in the garden?

Who or what is Dakang and what is his end game? I have a feeling none of the other worshipers even have a clue about whats going on. So do tell..."