Sparrow looks around the room, looking near to retch. She forces a quick spell to search for magical auras before joinging Brin in heading up. "Looked like there was a ladder upstairs. Should we check it out?"
Moving back up the stairs, Cilyanka agrees with Sparrow. Yes, we can properly attend to the dead after we save the living.
Alkaid asks a question to her (the spider thing)
"If you had a chance to redeem yourself and do good would you do it?"
The old woman-creature looks at you and smiles. It's a bit creepy. "I...would be willing to aid you. I'm not ready to die and not willing to do so for these stupid demon worshipers."
She chuckles. "He's dieing anyway. That's why he' so desperate. Killing Magnimar representatives...and thinking he could take anyone who came looking...then again...the only reason he did so is the tax man found out about the cult. Too stupid to live, like all Ghlaunder cultists. Set me free and I'll tell you how to reach them without further fighting, except, of course for the Mayor-Priest."
She appears to be serious, far more concerned with her own selfish needs than the town.
"It's a Deal, you'll help us and you're to redeem yourself with good acts."
she casts cure light wounds on her.
She stands up, wobbly, and says "Wear the costumes they've stored below. Whenever you pass one of the fake Desna images, genuflect like this." She demonstrates.
"Enter the maze behind this place. Quickest route, hm, left, right, past an entry to the right, then left to the center. The last turn should be easy to find. They lose the costumes once they're in, anyway. Look for the pile." She sketches briefly in the dirt on the floor from the compost heap.
"Most of them will be in a religious trance, but not the Mayor-Priest. Him, you'll have to fight. Careful, though. He's about to transform anyway, and once he's dead, his body belongs to his parasite god."
She chuckles. "Maybe the town will even appreciate your taking him out. Maybe."
Alkaid responds in a diplomatic tone.
"Sounds good, but here's a question does the mayor trust you?"
as she continues speak she starts to wear an almost fiendish smile.
"And don't worry you won't be the one going, as I may pose as you.
Even though I hate deception, It my be a rare time to use it."
Standing with her back to the wall, Cilyanka grips her sword tightly, face turning pale as if he is under great strain. The darness shrouding her blade seems to be streaming in small wisps towards the old woman.
Are you sure you want to trust her to live Alkaid? She's as must responsible for this carnel house as the Mayor.
"Everyone deserves a chance at redemption,
and She is also speaking the truth."
she give a look of wisdom to Cilyanka.
"Vengeance begets vengeance, Cilyanka.
You may think your an angel when doing so,
but in reality are getting closer to becoming a demon."
A demon.....
Cilyanka's eyes flare red for a moment, before fading.
I don't want vengence, but it's hungry and she's done so much....
Let her go then, quickly, we still need need to stop the sacrifice.
Visibly shaken, Cilyanka turns her back on the old women and walks out the door towards the maze.
The big guy realizes his powers will not be active all the way through the maze. Brin carefully leads the way through the maze, following the instructions exactly.
She smiles "Yes. He's desperate. He knows the price his ancestors paid. He'll let 'me' get close."
Strae shakes his head at the discussion. "As the one who let her go, without even vague safeguards to ensure she will 'redeem' herself, the responsibility will be on your soul if she goes off to commit more evil acts. You will have abetted her evil... so much for being angelic." He washes his hands of the issue by preparing himself for the maze.
@Spider-Lady (Alizna)
"Excellent, Since you can shape-shift I assume you have some of your clothes here, Right?
And I'll need to know how you act near the mayor, and how you respond."
@Strae
"That's your opinion, and and you sound like the type that would never give a person a chance to redeem themselves.
Even though likely as a kid you were given a few chances to clean up your act."
@Everyone
"I propose that before we set out through the maze, that we get into roles,
I'll disguise myself as Alizna to get close to that bastard,
Since they went after Cilyanka, we'll have her act as the unconscious sacrifice over someone's shoulder,
The rest of you will be disguised as cultists."
"When we get to the centre, I'll get as close to that bastard as I can, then we attack, I'll try to grapple that bastard."
"That's your opinion, and and you sound like the type that would never give a person a chance to redeem themselves.
Even though likely as a kid you were given a few chances to clean up your act."
The gnome shakes his head again, "That's an evasion, not an answer, and a poor one at that." He holds his hands up as if they are scales, "A gnome lad switched for stealing apples is equated with a... shape-changing spider woman who feeds on blood and profits by cult murders. You would treat them both the same." One hand lifts as the other dips, showing the imbalance. "Yes, a brilliant comparison. Next you'll be saying puppies that pee the rug deserve the same punishment as Fiends razing whole towns."
He finishes preparing for the raid before concluding his thoughts, "I've never chatted with your Goddess but I don't think that's an opinion. Your Goddess will judge you if this act of... charity... begets more evil. Feel free to argue the point with Her."
"She is useful, so she lives. She becomes inconvenient, we reevaluate."
Brin gives a meaningful look at the spider lady.
"Talks of religon tend to spark controversy. To your own self be true."
"Talks of religon tend to spark controversy. To your own self be true."
"I'd drink to that. 'course I'd be prayin' too. But best we continue both after we do some hero work."
The Aranea gives Alkaid information on how to behave around the Mayor, including the fact she was bargaining to keep Ryu for herself..."It's been a while since I had a spouse."
She sighs. "I don't suppose..." She smiles, as if joking, but you're not sure she is.
She looks at you, sighs and says "The robes are downstairs. There should be enough...unless you want to use the ones you hacked up killing those stupid peasants."
We might as well wear the robes, maybe we'll get close enough to surprise them if we look like cultists.
supernatural ability to alter their appearance as
though using a disguise self spell that affects their
bodies but not their possessions. This ability is not
an illusory effect but a minor physical alteration
of the character's facial features, skin color and
texture, and size, within the limits described
for the spell. A character can use this ability
at will, and the alteration lasts until he changes
shape again. The character reverts to his natural
form when killed. A true seeing spell reveals
his natural form. When using this ability to
create a disguise, the character receives a +10
circumstance bonus on Disguise checks.
Using this ability is a full-round action.
The halfgiant follows and concentrates to add a psychic shield to his psychic sword when close. Although his robe is quite small on him, Brin hopes will it will allow him to close to melee range.
Brin rushes along, eager to get the mayor.
Kaddoc puts on a robe and joins the others.
The spider-woman looks confused, then chuckles. "No, you don't understand. If you enter the maze, even posing as me, wearing anything other than the robes or Ghlaundar's Cloak, you will be attacked."
Heeding the old woman's words, Cilyanka will don a robe and mask.
"So you also wear the robes or cloak when your with him in the Maze, I thought being his right hand had you wear other clothes."
"Even he wears robes. Why insult Glhaundar in His holy site?"
"Alright, I just wanted to check.
Is there a mirror somewhere, as I want to make a convincing disguise."
Alkaid, you can find something to use as a mirror.
Meanwhile, the rest of you search the place. The ladder in the large front room leads to an attic crawlspace that allows an overview of the village and the maze o the rear of this building. You can see a fire in the center of the maze. There is a closet there that holds some junk and a very weird but well-made quilt richly embroidered with scenes of
sacrifice. The embroidered designs depict mosquitomasked cultists and stirges circling a central figure covered in black tumors caressing a bound prisoner. The embroidery depicts the victim smiling pleasantly as a ghostlike form leaves his body and accepts the embrace of the cancerous cult leader. Other scenes depict flourishing crops beneath the watchful gaze of the sacrificed victim’s spirit.
Checking the collapsed room again reveals that the chest that fell has broken open spilling out what looks like jewelry.
After Alkaid transforms and all of you gown up (as it were, you head out back. The area marked 9 consists of a small patch of reddish-brown plants, some reaching heights of nearly six feet in places. The plants grow thick, and periodically something within rustles the leaves and chitters. However, whatever is in there ignores you as long as you're wearing the robes.
Past this odd garden is a muddy cattle pond buzzing with the sound of gnats, its surface writheing with a thick layer of wriggling mosquito
larvae. The stench of rot emanates from the maggot-filled corpse of a dead ox calf that lies half submerged on the edge of the pool, tangled in the vegetation.
To your right is an old, half-ruined barn, from which you can make out what appears to be candlelight and movement.
The entry to the maze lies straight ahead.
The maze itself seems disturingly full of mosquitos, which buzz and flitt arond you as you work your way through the maze.
We should hurry and find the mayor before Shel is sacrificed. We can worry about picking up the jewelry and quilt after we have saved her.
before they leave the building she says
"I pray we are in time to save her."
The walls of the Maze are coated in sheets of webbing and pallid fungus that grow amid the corn, giving the entire place an eerie look when viewed under the light of the moon, as if countless figures draped in gauzy sheets were cavorting just out of sight in the murky undergrowth. As you enter swarms of mosquitoes are the first to make their presence known in the form of a cloud of hungry swarming parasites that emerges buzzing and angry from the undergrowth. They don’t attack anyone dressed in the robes and mosquito masks of the cult, although they do emerge and lovingly crawl over anyone so dressed. They hungrily feast on anyone else.
A thirty-foot diameter glade sits at the center of the field of looming vegetation. The ground is stripped down to bare earth and soil is heaped in a ring around the glade’s perimeter. Two large piles of wood, now set blazing as bonfires, stand at the eastern and western sides of the glade, while an enormous, twisted mass of roots topped by thick slabs of timber sits at the glade’s center.
On the slab is Shel Lupescu, surrounded by the cultists. Their masks and robes lay in a heap next to the entrance and they themselves appear to be clothed in gauzy, diaphanous robes, but up close the horrible truth of their apparel is obvious. They are clothed only in mosquito swarms. Only Kriegler himself has kept his robes on.
Brin summons his psychic shield and waits to see if the charade is maintained while he waits in the back.
If Brin has time, he will psychicly increase his life force with more psychic power
Alkaid approaches in her disguised state to the lord mayor.
and acts as the way as it told her to.
She also surprisingly has copied it's voice.
"My Lord Mayor, We have caught one of the outsiders for our sacrificial offering."
Not knowing what to expect, Cilyanka prods the prisoners forward.
As the group enters the center of the maze and appoaches the mayor he looks up, seeming pleased, saying "About time. Disrobe and join us!"
The cutists sway back and fourth as if drugged and repeat his statement in an odd yet estatic monotone, occasionally adding other phrases.
“That which sleeps within must still be fed”
“Only blood can contain the land’s nightmarish corruption.”
His victim is bound to the altar naked and each of the cultist march up to her, laying hands on her and allowing part of their mosquito swarm cloak to crawl from them to her, festooning her with thousands of hungry, feasting mosquitos.
As you work your way closer to the altar and Shel, the mosquitos on her body and those surrounding Mayor Kriegler rise form their perches and swarm into a disturbingly hideous, shadowy form spreading
gossamer wings and impossibly long legs over the glade. The Mayor looks up, smiles evily and says. "Imposters? Or have you come to drop your false allegiences and join us? If so, cast aside your weapons and you will be welcomed! Be warned, if you try to stop us, the salvation of one will doom all to starvation!"
Cilyand draws her Rhoka as she approached the Mayor, the blade shrouding itself in shadows as she approaches. I doubt Desna would agree.
As she approaches her blade suddently lashes out, seemingly of its own accord.
HP: 19/22
Temp: 6/6
Arcane Pool: 0/4
AC: 22/13/18
effects: mage armor, arcae pool(+1 rhoka)