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Gabe smiles back at Gavin "Tis an age where most of the Gods have been forgotten... or abandoned. It's us mortals who carry the weight of unearthing those answers, it's us who will either bring Them back or bury them in the sands of time. I appreciate your answers, I feel as if My Lord isn't so far now... Thank you, father. May the Light shine upon thee."
Having said that, Gabriel moves closer to the shrine and kneels prepared to pray. In a soft voice, he begins...
"Lady Iomedae, I'm but a humble servant of the Light but I must ask thee to give me courage in the face of darkness, strength to overcome the challenges and purity to remain unscathed of soul and mind."
"In this temple of yours I pray upon thee, may your kind hand guide me, may your winds carry my voice to my Lord. May his Holy Light comfort me and brighten my path."
"Praise be Iomedae. Praise be Pelor. Praise be the Gods of Justice and Good."
When he's finished Gabriel stands up and move to the doors to exit the church.
Lys moves to the cloth in the vines and examines it. Afterwards she returns to the statue to meet back up with the group.
When the group is assembled she tells them "I think someone in the village has gone to the tower. I found this on the fence of the church and tracks leading They may be expecting us." She shows them the cloth.
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You kneel infront of the alter as the various colored sun rays litter over you, (from stained glass). In these moments of peace come clarity, and self empowerment. You get the feeling that Iomedae herself is okay with your request in all her glorious divinity. Your eyes close as you start, and the excitement you get for your religion courses strong through your veins. Your imagination peaks as you picture his glory cast down upon you. You picture many scriptures and his symbol. You picture a faceless man, bathed in sunlight standing before you. It was if he was becoming a focus in your mind to strengthen your prayers. Then your mind goes blank once more. With your eyes closed you see blackness,... Silence,... You wonder why your mind went blank, though feeling slightly foolish for having gotten ahead of yourself with your imagination. But then you hear it.... Nothingness... Readying to reopen your eyes you realize now they have been opened. You are no longer in the church you a solitude of darkness. You move, but do you really? all of your senses seem blind. All of them numb to the surroundings as if a suspended animation was in effect... But then you hear,
The sound that rings through your mind among the darkness
... and like waking from a dream you felt conscious during, you open your eyes, finishing your prayer. You feel a hand on your shoulder, "Well spoken young man. Amen." should you look in hope to discern what had happened the others seem oblivious to your vision. A chill becomes all that is left remaining of what just happened, brought on only by that single droplet echoing inside your soul.
The voice is here, yet it is there, it is everywhere, but nowhere
Zul Feron pipes up, "Do you really think Amber would be capable of such a thing? She certainly seems distressed over it."Zul reaches towards some of the debris rubbing the smaller pieces in his hands as if studying them.
"Well it would appear that this statue is finely made, Reguardless... they put in effort for sure." He casts detect magic to gain sight of the magics described prior to by Avdol. "Intriguing,... These events as of late barely sate my thirst for more knowledge. Shall we continue shortly and regroup for the travel?"
Elrosk shrugs, "Me no understand why she cried..." Instantaneously raising his hands defensively adding, "Me no care either!" before going over to the fence and sniffing the air about them.
"Wai... huh? Y-you were... a-and now your... ahh... umm... ahh... uuh?" Avdol clearly taken aback by the old mans sudden... jump?... and preforming his best Jeff Goldblum impression, whoever that is... He will simply walk up to the pue the old man was sitting at and inspect it.
Clearly confused, Akari scratches his head as he's scouring the grounds for whatever that was.
"That's... Wierd. I could've sworn... Ah hell, I'm losing it too."
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Lys briefly looks concerned at Akari's confusion, but figures its nothing. Lys then joins Elrosk and goes over the wall. She then finds a hammer and chisel.
" Ah, these change things, I might be off on the timing of our cloth. These tools could have been used to break the statue and been left at the same time as the cloth on the other side of the wall. A picture is starting to come together of the theft. We should still expect the thieves to expect us just in case."
She turns to Elrosk and just says "Love" She then begins formulating the events in her mind,twirling her hair as per usual when she is in deep thought, before announcing her thoughts she will wait on the Avdol and Gabriel to leave the church and join the group.
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Gabriel stands, still stunned by the vision and feeling, and shakes Gavin's hand "Thank you, father. May His light be with you." he says with a smile, making note to ask the others about what he have seen.
He then comes back to hear Lys of the cloth found. "Show me where you found it, please." if she agrees to show him, he tries to look for tracks and clues around, trying to discern the size and weight of whomever may have left them and if they are old or not.
Lys points over the fence. "I found the cloth just over the fence in the vines. and i found the hammer and chisel on this side on the ground. This evidence paints a clear picture and supports Winston's and Amber's information. The Thieves clearly broke off the orb from the statue and in a rush chose to go through the churchyard instead of the few extra seconds to go around. Leading them to clamber over the fence and, in their rush one must have ripped a piece of clothing on the fence. and they either left the tools behind or also dropped them in their hurry. The trail to the tower is has clearly been walked through more recently than however many years ago the wizard left." Lys smiles as she finishes her Nancy Drew style deduction.
The pastor simply turns from looking at Avdol with a smile to looking at Gabriel. "It was a pleasure dear boy, have a safe journey."
Elrosk looks to Lysanthir as she says 'Love'. "You love Elrosk?!?!, Elrosk think it be too soon,... me sorry" He seems flattered but possibly misunderstood what you'd actually meant.
After leaving the church Gabriel is able to find the actual tracks left behind by the so called, bandits. In fact you are able to follow the tracks for quite a ways into the forest. Zul makes his way over following Avdol and barely catching what Elrosk says, laughs to himself. Meanwhile a strong gust comes from within the forest, billowing into each of your faces and lasting a few seconds before dying down. You can tell that the path the others spoke of lies ahead of you however as they'd also mentioned, it is filled with an overgrowth of vegetation.
Just inside the forest as you begin your ascent up the traversing path of overgrowth, you notice that the forest is as lush as seen before. Little signs of wildlife make themselves apparent or well known to you however. The most you see is a crow/raven. It eyes you as you pass from a high branch out of reach.
The lighting inside the forest is normal, it's not bright nor dark.
"Find anything out?" Zul asks Avdol and Gabriel as they travel. Elrosk coninues walking at Zul's side occasionally sighing out of boredom but doesn't say anything unless spoken to.
Lys chuckles at Elrosk's rejection of love. "Agreed it is to early well for adults, Love is why Amber cried. Young irrational love specifically."
After the first 10 minutes of travel Lys quites down and begins to focus more on scouting and watching for traps rather than figuring people out.
While we trek up the path.
"Gabe... That pastor... Either he is wicked spry and could move faster than a blink or he can use magic greater than my own. For he was sitting down and instantly he was at your side with a hand on your shoulder... If it's the latter... he is also lazy... Could have just stood up and walked over..."
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Gabriel listen to Avdol and nods "I agree. I think Gavin is more than he shows... but I trust him." he turns to the rest and speaks "I prayed to Pelor for help in the church, and once again my mind has drifted into something from beyond... I've seen a figure, a faceless man bathed in sunlight. He strengthened me... and then my mind was blank. I could feel the emptiness and hear complete silence. I opened my eyes and it was all but darkness... I tried to move, but my senses were numb, I felt nothing. Then I heard an eerie sound, akin to tears dropping rythmically... and I came back. Like waking from a dream, I was again in the church. "Well spoken young man. Amen." " he whispers that last phrase.
Gabriel seems excited and distressed at the same time.
"I still feel a chill from that sound, echoing inside me." he takes a hand to his heart "I can't comprehend what's happening, I've never had these visions... but I can feel His gaze shining upon us." resuming the walk he says, as if speaking to himself [B]"I will find answers... but now we have to retrieve the orb."[/b
A little over an hour passes of traveling, and as such you notice the already heavily shaded forest is getting slightly darker.
Zul Feron smiles broadly, clearly hanging onto every word Gabriel speaks. Intrigued thouroughly he says, "I can only imagine what he is capable of,... But why would he demonstrate an ability like that?"
Both Elrosk and Zul Feron continue walking forward not seemingly paying attention to anything or anyone in particular. He appears lost in thought while keeping a pace ahead with Elrosk.
Lys slowly drops to the back of the group, while keeping an eye on the treeline. When she is in the back she does stuff.
If Lys either senses either nefarious intentions or is unable to tell she will attempt to shoot the raven with her shortbow.
Akari will turn to look at what Lys was up to after she looses her arrow with a questioning stare and his hand reaching for the hilt of his sword. "What is it?" He asked with in a low soft tone.
If anything should develop, Akari will draw his sword and prepare for battle. If not, he'll continue to look confused and comment. "A bird. Nervous?"
Avdol notices Lys shooting through the trees... Supper perhaps?
Initiative Order
Gabriel-17
Lysanthir-14
Raven-14
Lys preps another shot at the raven.
"Where? What raven? Point the little bastard out, my eyes aren't very good."
Avdol will look around and total defense.
The Raven screaches in pain as Lysanthir's arrow lances through it's side only just grazing it, (still devastating for a bird).
The raven leaps from it's perch and begins flying away, which in its sudden movement allows you to see it, though it stays relatively high up, and among the canopy the best it can, it would be barely visible if not the the breaks in the canopy where the day's remaining sunlight snuck through. It continues flying in the same direction as you are headed in a burst of speed cawing wildly along the way.
All may act accordingly. The ceiling of the canopy is roughly 20-25 feet up as these trees are relatively larger than most trees. Especially more so as you continue making your way deeper into the unknown and less traveled.
"Huh, a bird. So why are we harassing a raven? It's not like they're particularly good tasting, assuming you intend to cook it that is."
"It was following us. Intelligently. Like it was tasked to follow and report on us. If anyone can hit it with something. Do so."
"Sadrazar! Tordec itx baz aliza!"
Quickly, Avdol opens his robes and Sadrazar bursts from his chest and immediately charges the raven.
Missing the initial lunge, Sadrazar still ready for its escape.
Sadrazar misses his initial lunge, you can guess realization hit it as it realized it couldn't outrun Sadrazar. Instead it turned to attack.
Clearly missing it's attack...
Sadrazar attacks back with his talons landing one blow. Avdol will double move closer to the aerial combat.
Zul and Elrosk begin moving closer but still remain out of range of the raven.
It misses Sadrazar again.
"Swiftly, before it makes it's escape" Zul protests.
"Can any of your spells hit it Avdol?"
As Lys keeps up she keeps scanning for any other threats.
"If I could, I would have used them by now." Avdol says slightly annoyed at the question. "Move up and shoot at it Lys. You have the best range capabilities."
The forest is silent and dark, only you and the raven are in sight. With that said, the forest's haunting emptiness only makes the noise from the two birds seem louder than normal.
Lys runs into a decent position, if possible, and takes a shot at the raven.
"It is most likely someone's familiar as Sadrazar is to me. Someone at the tower was most likely using it as a scout. Though, if we are outside a mile range of the tower our presence still should be unnoticed. However, it not returning could give us away also, we must hurry!
"CAW! the Raven bellows out Ina shriek of pain as the arrow soars just under Sadrazar's wing and into it's chest. A few feathers fall as in the same motion the Raven is carried via the arrow into a nearby branch completely impaled. It's body gave a few twitches before it went completely limp. Once again, the forest became completely silent.
"That should buy us some time. A familiar huh, Winston didn't mention anything about one of the thieves using magic. Maybe just a pet? Or they have help...?"
Lys continues traveling down the path. assuming that the others will follow.
The party travels for another couple hours without seeing much of anything else.
Eventually the overgrown trail tapers outward ahead of you roughly 60 yards. The sun is loosing height in the distant sky this adding distance to the shadows' reach. The taper widens into a clearing that spans an additional thirty feet out in all directions from the tower, which in person is much larger than first perceived from the distance. Easily it's base is seventh feet across, two large, heavy looking maple doors guard its entrance. Windows symmetrically rest evenly placed in the topmost section of the tower where it is built outward and topped with a shingled roof.
roughly the style of the tower itself
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"If there are spellcasters among them we should be extra careful. Any suggestion about how should we approach? Simply walking to the door seems dangerous... but I don't think there's any other options... I will check if there are more tracks around, maybe I can find something useful like a tracks to a hidden entrance.
"The front door might be the only option. It is a defensive structure, albeit wizard built. Avdol can you sense any magic emanating from a specific part of the structure?"
Lys remains in the brush while taking a look at the tower.
Avdol cast detect magic and also sends Sadrazar out to do a low sweep of the building in case of alternate entrances and or other immediate threats that can possibly be seen from a window if there is one..
There are plenty of tracks around, none of which are monstrous. They mainly are located around the base of the tower and to and from the forest. The only entrance found is at the front and the sun is setting.
You make out some light peering through small cracks in the door where they open for a moment before it dims away again. If not for the setting sun this wouldn't have been possible to have picked up on.
"The whole structure has an aura surrounding it, though I don't believe it to be harmful. If it was, it should have harmed the group we are after first. So, if they are lying on the floor dead inside, I'll retract my deduction. It's most likely to protect the structure itself..."
"As much as I dislike it seems like the front is the only option. We do need to hurry."
Lys waits for either Akari or Gabriel to begin moving before following.