Amiri bellows with anger, as the strange creatures transform and attack.
Cursing at the broken pillar that blocks her way to the nearest foe, she moves around it, drawing her sword as she goes.
Closing with it, she snarls in rage, lifting her huge sword high, and attacks!
, for damage (slashing, magic)
, for an additional damage.
"What's those things?" the elf asks as she darts towards the nearest creature and attempts to thrust her rapier into its side.
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The false Layra underestimated Amiri, and it turned out to be the creature's last mistake. With a roar, the warrioress cleaves the rubbery creature nearly in half, the unnatural blood spraying across the courtyard and splashing on Amiri's face and chest. It collapses into a bloody heap.
"Ń̷͢͡o҉ò̕ơ͘͜͢o͟҉͠o̸̢͜ơ͜͜͞͝ơ̷͜!̨͠" howls the other creature.
-Posted with Wayfinder
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Upset by its companion being slain, the stalker holding Balazar fails to notice the two elf rogues sneaking up on it, and two rapiers sink in to their hilts.
-Posted with Wayfinder
Balazar struggles with the magic as the claws and bite of the creature tears through him. He manages to hold his focus and he can feels his power draw forth something from the earth. Two hulking, roughly humanoid creatures of dirt and stone explodes up from the earth, faceless save for two glowing gemstone eyes. One pop up on each side of the Faceless Stalker and they immediately slam into it with their fists.
Sanjay whistles as Amiri destroys her loathsome foe. "Well done, sister-in-arms!" he says with a quick bow towards her. He draws his temple sword per Balazar's excellent advice, steps forward, and tries to emulate Amiri's mighty strike in his own fashion.
"Release my friend, beast!"
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'Enogas' dodges the fist of one elemental, only to run face-first into the smashing blow of the other. As it reels from the impact, Sanjay is able to find an opening to strike with his curved blade, chopping its left arm, the one holding the gnome, from its body and sending it collapsing to the ground in a rapidly-growing puddle of ichor.
The clothing, holy symbols, and Erastilian weapons worn by the two priests were part of these creatures' disguise. The only true weapons are the two well-made longswords, of Nirmathi make -- no doubt stolen from other victims.
Balazar recalls that these creatures, Faceless Stalkers, typically capture their prey and drain them slowly over time, assuming their identity after a long process. It seems too much to hope that Larya or Enogas might still be alive, but at the very least there is still the spear to return. Its purpose was to protect this temple from evil, and perhaps it will still do so.
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"Bletch" utters 'Five'
"Those things are horrible. I hope there are not many more of them. They seem to pack a punch. We should see if any of the other acolytes here are still alive..."
She moves to the narrow gap to the north and slips into shadow as she heads down the passageway.
At the first doorway she pauses and listens
"Hold up Merisel! Some of us are rather hurt here. Let's heal up before we explore further shall we?" He then gets out a scroll and starts chanting, "Ahbraz zharag hgdara jsaggs gtdivkxu dhacsajj diudjor devexez ivgehog seh". The scroll seems to melt into blood that drip down his arms, covering his hands in blood and staining his sleeve. As if nothing untowards had happened he then says. "There might be more foul creatures here. Let me at least get up my defenses before continuing further." The heinous wounds after the creature's attack seem to slowly close up. After about a minute has passed he repeats the process with the scroll. He then summons a shield of force around himself. "[b]Now I got protection up, so let's go.
Sajan stands, breathing heavily for a few seconds and looking around. "What terrible creatures, to steal a man's identity... I do not have high hopes for any to still live, but as you say, we must look. Clearly these monsters have some grudge against this temple... but what is the purpose of impersonating the priests? Did they wish to take the Arrow from us, perhaps?"
Pondering this, Sanjay retrieves a potion from his belt sash, and sips.
The blow he took fades to only a small scratch. Sanjay inspects it a moment, then decides that he is well enough to continue. He glances at the bodies of the twisted creatures, but takes nothing. His own sword will serve him well enough. Then, he moves after 'Five'.
Seeing the other take care of the second creature, Amiri relaxes slightly, breathing heavily.
Reaching down to pick up the fancy longsword the one she attacked was wielding, she takes a moment to examines it with a critical eye.
Then without comment, she thrust it into the faceless stalker at her feet, to ensure he is fully dead, before dropping the weapon unceremoniously beside the corpse.
She gathers up a big handful of moss and uses it to wipe the excess blood off her blade, ignoring the blood that splashed on herself.
"The blood trail leads down the center." She says, tossing the moss aside. "Answers might lay that way."
Sanjay looks over to Amiri at her words. "Hmm. Two paths diverge before us. One is marked by blood, the other.... apparently by silence. If we can follow that trail of blood, I suggest we do so."
"Let's head down the bloodmarked path yeah. I'll go after you, I'm not the best at upfront melee. Though my elementals can sense things through the ground, but sadly I can't talk to them. Let me see if I can make them understand me anyway." Balazar looks to his elementals, points to the corpses on the ground, then make a wide sweeping motion around himself to try to ask them if there are any more creatures alive nearby.
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The second elemental just peers dumbly at the gnome, but the first gets the idea and grumbles in Terran at the other. The two sink into the ground, and vanish for a time. About a minute later, they return. At first they try to speak to Balazar in Terran, but realize he can't understand. Then the first one, who is apparently a little brighter, points at the dead stalkers and slowly shakes its head back and forth. It then points at the doorway dimly visible through the passage to the west, and holds up its hands to its head.
Balazar mutters a quick cantrip to better focus his mind so he can understand the elementals better. Still he scratches his head as he tries to wrack his brain on what the elementals mean.
"They indicate a creature with horn over there. This is the temple of the Stag God, so it might not mean anything, but I say that we're better safe than sorry to be wary when we check it out. Meresiel, let me cast a couple protective spells on you." He walks over to the Meresiels and chants quickly and touches both of them briefly.
Sanjay nods thoughtfully. "Well, let us take the western passage, then, and be cautious for what may come."
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Five now sees the hallway intersection, seeing the corridors leading off to the south, which terminates in an alcove with statues of Erastil, and to the north, which leads north to another intersection and door.
The doors in front of her have a niche in the center, shaped a bit like a half-circle with a point in the middle of the curve.
A trickle of water is running along the flagstones of the floor from under the door.
When Five gestures that the immediate coast is clear, Sanjay sidles to join her in the hallway, gazing at the door niche.
Sanjay murmurs softly, "That niche-- it is a stylized symbol of Erastil, I believe. You can see the shape of the bow, in the curve there."
He arches a brow at the water flowing from under the door, but doesn't know what to make of it.
Merisiel silently joins her twin sister and Sanjay at the hallway intersection .
While nodding at the monk, she looks closely at the door and at the trickle of water.
"It looks like the water seems to form the shape of a fanged crown", she says after a while. "Perhaps there is something magic here?"
Amiri follows along restlessly, her sword out and ready.
She seems content to allow those stealthier then her to scout ahead.
The sight of the pool of water disturbs her slightly, as she grips her blade tighter, ready for whatever awaits.
"Let's see if there is any magic here that is causing this. Merisiel, wait up, this might be important." Balazar says as he starts detecting for it.
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Balazar's magic is able to penetrate the doors, which are mostly made of strong wood, less than a foot thick. After three rounds, he is able to locate two auras in the room ahead. One is faint, off to one side, and about 10 feet up; the other is moderate, directly ahead of the door, and at floor level.
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Five tries to listen through the door, but she realizes that in the last minute or so a flock of birds -- crows perhaps -- have landed on top of the temple walls and nearby trees and are making a lot of noise. She can't hear anything through the door that's loud enough to overcome the angry-sounding bird calls.
"Ah, there is magic up ahead, an aura of faint Transmutation and something I can't identify. Most mysterious. Be prepeared. Nothing we can do anything about from out here though. Amri, let me shield you as well as I have the others." Balazar goes over to Amri and casts Protection from Evil on her.
"Let me step back a bit, I don't fancy getting grabbed again. Whoever caused that magic in there might be in league with the faceless stalkers we just fought." He motions to the earth elementals to stand by the wall to get ready to enter after the door is opened.
Sanjay takes a few steps closer, sword in hand. (He tries to avoid stepping in the water.) As far as he is concerned, Five may open the door whenever she chooses.
Sajan purses his lips. "It is possible that in another section of the temple we might find an intact symbol of Erastil," he says. "...or Amiri might try the path of the body. Or perhaps, you ladies are skilled with locks?"
Balazar follows at a safe distance and yet again decides to detect magic in front of them.
Sanjay silently follows, keeping his blade ready in his hand and resisting the urge to glance back over his shoulder at the strange water.
"There is another faint transmutation aura up ahead. I wonder why there are so many auras in this place..."
Rapier in hand, Merisiel joins her allies and takes position beside the door.
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Five looks around the corridor and sees an open doorway into a room, which doesn't have any furnishings that she can see from the end of the hallway.
Five opens the door and looks in. No movement is visible, but a breeze comes in through an open skylight.
Three circular basins occupy the floor, each with a diameter of about ten feet. The west-most one, which corresponds to the aura Balazar detected, contains a clear, greenish-blue liquid. The center one is full of dirt and has a wide variety of plants growing in it. The third is full of a transparent, red liquid, and has two clothed figures laying in it.
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The figures do indeed appear to be the acolytes who met you weeks ago to charge you with the recovery of Erastil's arrow, and whose countenances the faceless stalkers wore. Sadly, they are incontestably dead. Rigor mortis has stiffened their limbs, but no decomposition is apparent -- they don't even smell that bad. Surely they must have been dead for less than a day.
The pool is indeed red with their blood. Perhaps the stalkers chose to profane the pool with their bodies. It also seems oddly thick and slimy, like tree sap.
They each have a holy symbol of Erastil hanging from leather strings around their necks.
The middle basin is full of plant life. Although it includes many useful medicinal and nutritional herbs, there is nothing unusual or of immediate utility here.
The remaining basin, from which Balazar detected a faint aura, contains a thick, greenish-blue liquid.
From the open skylight above, the sound of screeching birds is clearly heard, growing louder constantly. You can also hear the howls of a distant wolfpack, and other, less identifiable noises.
After Five signals that the coast is clear, Sanjay moves into the room as well, looking sober when he sees the dead priests.
"May the Lady of Graves guide you to a forest worthy of your god," he murmurs over the bodies. "I mean no desecration, but..."
He crouches, to untie one of the cords and take the holy symbol. Then, he looks over the other pools.
"...Odd," Sanjay murmurs. "This is holy water, but some sort of.... sap? has been mixed with it. I suppose it is thick enough to coat something.... perhaps a blade."
Thoughtfully, the monk extends the blade of his sword into the green-blue slurry. Then he raises his head, listening.
"...those birds. I heard them before... but they are louder now. Like something had riled them. Or they are getting closer?"