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Hundreds of years ago, the daemonic harbinger Anogetz attempted to conquer the Southern Fangwood with hordes of crazed animals and cruel fiends. The faithful of Erastil, god of hunting and patron of frontier settlements, fought back, and legend says that when they cornered the cult of Anogetz in its temple, Erastil himself fired a great arrow that split the daemon’s unholy altar in two. This arrow has been a key part of a ritual that has kept the daemons from returning. Until two months ago, Erastilian priests have performed this ceremony in the reconsecrated temple on the night of the new moon, but the relic recently went missing.
Sanjay (Sajan) is also here, bowing calmly to his fellows.
And Amiri
A white-haired gnome looks up at the gathered group. "So they lost the relic eh? That's most unfortunate. We should do something about that."
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The Pathfinder Society offered to assist the priests, and sent the PCs to retrieve the massive arrow. After following the trail through the Fangwood forest for a week, you found it -- the thieves were just a few vandals who broke in, and when the armed and dangerous adventurers came upon them, they abandoned it and fled for their lives. Feeling slightly cheated that the quest to recapture the arrow was so anticlimactic, the stalwart band have hurried to return to the temple, so that the priests Enogas and Larya may take custody of the relic and enact the ritual to reconsecrate the altar.
You have arrived at the Erastilian shrine, once known as the Fane of Fangs, just as dusk is falling. The symbol of "Old Deadeye", a bow made of elk antlers, nocked with an arrow, is emblazoned on each of the set of towering oaken doors that lead into the temple. The left one of these doors is slightly ajar, and the path leading there shows signs of recent traffic.
Sanjay is not disappointed by the easy recovery of the arrow-- as he sees it, it would be pleasant if all tasks that the Society orders could be resolved with a minimum of bloodshed and chaos.
As he walks with the others towards the Erastilian temple, he remains, as always, observant of what transpires around him.
The gnome nods as he walks over to the man. "Aye, you be right Sajan. If all missions were as easy as the retrieval with nothing going amiss, it would be great. No one would die and we would get to accomplish more. Can't be too careful though. I totally forgot to use the scroll you brought this morning. I think we should be rather safe than sorry and might as well use it now." The gnome gets out the scroll and chants quickly. "Alaza protxen romra egam!"
Sanjay arches his brows at Balazar. "We have safely retrieved our item, and now we return to the temple-- what need could we have of protections now? Still, I will not argue with you, my friend."
He gives a small bow to the gnome, and consents to the scroll's usage .
"Yes, unless you're expecting the priests to mob him with joy for retrieving their arrow." Amiri adds, looking dubiously at the weapon in question.
"Though would love to see the bow that shot that." She adds.
"Strange, barefoot humanoids footprints", the older elf says. "As far as I know, Erastilian priests don't walk barefoot." She draws her rapier and slightly pushes the left door open, just enough so that she can peek into the room beyond.
Amiri chuckles. "A god of farmers and peasants. As likely to be barefoot as anyone." She says, though looks cautious despite her dismissive words.
"Perhaps the temple has local visitors from around here. They seem to still be present," Sanjay says calmly. "Let us go greet them."
His skin crackling with the spell Balazar called forth on him, Sanjay pads forward tothe door with the others.
"I'm with you! It's great to be able to do this." Balazar says excitedly. Then he sobers up. "Though I do wonder about these footprints you guys found. Maybe it was a good idea to protect ourselves after all? I've ran into many situations in my day where a situation looked to be all good before turning sour. I hope that is not the case here and that some unwanted guests have come to bother our priests. Anyway, I'll follow after the rest of you, I'm not much for melee myself." Balazar follows after Sanjay and the Merisiels.
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Looking through the door, Merisiel sees the courtyard, much as you saw it weeks ago when first receiving the mission to hunt down the relic, except that two columns and a statue that had been intact at the time, now lie shattered on the ground. You recall that though old and weathered, none of the structures seemed in danger of imminent collapse.
A handsome, young man with dark skin is crouching by the fallen statue. You recognize him as Enogas, the acolyte of Erastil you met here previously.
He turns his head as the door is pushed open, and stands up, seeing the elf peeking though the doorway. "Ah! The adventurers. Uh... Mer... Merisiel, wasn't it? Are the others there? Do you have it?" he calls out across the courtyard.
Sanjay takes a step towards the acolyte and offers him a little bow, hands clasped at his chest. "We are all here, yes. We have retrieved that which was sought.... but what has transpired in our absence?" he says, nodding towards the broken statue. "Has some violence intruded on what should be a peaceful house of worship?"
Though Sanjay's demeanor is calm, his eyes are alert and watchful, studying the acolyte closely.
Amiri moves over towards the broken column trying to determine what exactly happened, content to let Sanjay talk to the acolyte.
"Most uncommon indeed that we were able to retrieve the arrow without problems. But are there problems here?" He stays back near the entrance, letting the others go ahead of him as the footsteps has made him wary.
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The acolyte nods grimly at Sanjay, looking down at the fallen statue before him.
"It is so, friend. This statue must have been pulled down by a heretic or foe of Erastil. It is possible they are still nearby."
"Blood, here." Amiri says suddenly, noticing the bloodstains.
She glances around warily, before stopping to examine it more closely.
"How many others should be here?" She asks, glancing back towards the acolyte. "You may be right."
He draws her blade her eyes scanning the passages out of the room.
"These statue looks like it's been vandalized with mark of fangs." Balazar points out before looking over at the acolyte. "Were any of your members hurt?"
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"Just myself and Layra. No, neither of us are hurt, and I don't know what any blood could be from. Maybe the perpetrator of this," he gestures at the statue, "was injured by a falling fragment of stone? Or maybe it was an animal, for all I know."
From inside the temple, the voice of a woman calls out. "Pathfinders, you have returned! Thank you!" A woman, slightly older than Enogas, with mousey-brown hair and tanned skin, is limping up the steps with the help of a staff. You all recall Layra, who was also present at the time you were given the mission. She dragged her left foot in a limp at that time, too, and her staff looks the same as when she leaned on it for support those weeks before. "As you can see some vandalism occurred while you were searching for the spear. Repair it? Certainly we will repair it, as soon as we have surveyed the full extent of the damage and sent to Molthune for the manpower needed. "
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Amiri relaxes a little at the sight of Layra, re-sheathing her sword.
"So they're gone then?" She asks.
"Why all the blood?" she adds, pointing back down the stairs the older woman just came up.
"Seems there was more excitement if you didn't go then if you did." She laughs at the irony.
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"I don't know who did all this. Perhaps they are still in the temple! We arrived just a short while ago."
Sanjay senses something may be off. The woman might be hiding something or know more than she is letting on.
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Sanjay's eyes linger on the blood as well, a frown creasing his brow. He notices the fang-defacement as well, a bit disturbing, but doesn't know enough about religion to have solid notions of what that might mean. More study in the monastery is required.
He bows a little to Layla at her entrance. As she keeps talking, his small frown becomes more pronounced.
"With all due respect, priestess... is there something you are not telling us? I will pledge my blade to help seek out whatever vandals have done this to your lawful temple, but my heart tells me you know of something that you have not yet spoken of. Honesty is the foundation upon which the house of brotherhood is built."
"Blood tracks, vandalism and people hiding the truth. This is a most unfortunate situation. I'll detect magic to see if there are any more clues to this mystery. We have to get to the bottom of this. We will get to the bottom of this." He looks around as he starts chanting, covering the courtyard with his scanning for magic. "Acz spatrz uiore valfew nvaerg ovjre zdfanf"
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Enogas walks past Sanjay, looking up at the statues that Balazar indicated. "Yes, fangs, I see..." he says.
Balazar does not detect any magical auras in the area of his cone.
Layra blushes a bit at Sanjay's words. "Ah, yes... well... Enogas and I were... already at the temple... this wasn't here when we entered... we were... slightly occupied. So... distracted, you might say, that we didn't hear any of this happen." Her blush is pretty intense at this point.
Enogas blinks at Layra's words. "You... you didn't have to tell them that!"
Balazar is still busy scanning the courtyard with his detect magic spell. The other four, however, all notice that Layra's face is not the right color at all for a blushing human. It's an odd magenta, like someone had heard about a blush turning your face pink, and took it a little too literally.
Sanjay arches both brows at the explanation, and almost begins to offer a little apology-- before he notices the oddly-hued blush to Layla's cheeks.
"...." Sanjay takes a half-step back, wariness written in his body language and his eyes flicking between Layla and Enogas.
"What manner of magic is this?" he says, sharply. "Are you under some apprentice's trick?"
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"An apprentice's trick?" says Layra, her voice suddenly becoming rough and chthonic. "N̛o͢, ̷n͡ot҉ àt̛ ̀a̕l̴l, bu҉t͡ ̢a̢ ҉t̨ri̷ck,͡ ͘oh̢ ̧y̛e͏s̀!"
Suddenly both Layra and Enogas's facial features and clothing appear to melt, turning into leathery, rugose flesh, dominated by grotesque and unsettling whorls and slits. Their arms lengthen, their backs hunch over, and they seem to move with a corrupted vigor.
"T͠o̷o͘ ̢cann͟y͏,̡ to͝o ͡t͘ríg ̷fo͘r ̢me, ̨oh̨ yes,̕ ̨y̶ou̶ f͟o͏ol̸ ͞o͠f a m̸òn̢k,͡ ̴you'̡l͜l̶ ̴d͝i͜e f̀i͝rs͡t̷!͏" the one who was pretending to be Layra hisses, drawing a sword and striking out from a distance with the sword held in its grotesquely long arms. It hits the unprepared monk, slashing across his shoulder, and the creature steps back, clearly looking to defend itself.
Round one:
'Layra' (blue): draws a longsword and attacks Sanjay
Sanjay: May act
'Enogas' (green)
Merisiel
Five
Amiri
Balazar
Sanjay hisses as the blade bites deep into his flesh, stinging pain. He grits his teeth, but rather than pursue 'her', he turns on the supposed 'acolyte', who is standing dangerously close to the less-hardy Balazar. His fists fly in a blur towards the whorled flesh of the creature.
"Balazar, pull back! By golden Irori, what are these formless creatures!?" he shouts to his teammates.
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Although Sanjay's fist strikes the creature dead on, its rubbery flesh seems to soften the blow, and his attempt to stun fails.
'Enogas' steps back, drawing a sword, but lashes forward with its long arm, slamming Balazar hard and grabbing him with its claw-like fingers. Pulling him close, the horrific creature jabs three sharp, barbed tongues into his shoulder, slurping his blood with a nauseating sound.
Round one:
'Layra' (blue): draws a longsword and attacks Sanjay
Sanjay: was kung fu fighting, those fists were fast as lightning
'Enogas' (green): slam, grab, blood drain
Merisiel
Five
Amiri
Balazar
Bold may act.
"Ack, no! It hurts! It's draining me!" Balazar exclaims before furrowing his brow in concentration, trying to focus on summoning otherworldly creatures to help him in his dire situation. He reaches deep within himself, in the place of power that connects him to Padrig.
"The creatures are resistant to blunt weapons. Use your sword Sajan!" Balazar shouts out, stating the obvious.
"So I see!" the monk shouts in response to Balazar's advice. He will draw his sword at the soonest chance.