AC = 17
Sarge moves up, right behind the halfling's wolf, his falchion ready to attack.
The quick attention put to shutting the undead creature down bypass its ability to shrug off damage, and it falls to the ground, having the 'un' taken right out of 'undead'.
With it down, the temple is clear for you to explore. There is no singular source of the green light, it's just a lingering taint in the building. Kyra and Asmodea both have an unsettling chill run down their spines as they stand in a temple that was desecrated. Not devoted to a new god, just abandoned and scorned.
However, the devotion can be reforged, either to Torag or to the god of your choosing. It will require some ritual cleaning and preayers.
"Well, that is over with. I think that plan worked out quite well." Iolana gives Asmodea an odd look, like she is re-evaluating someone, "Thank you for staying between me and the door Asmodea, I appreciate it." Giving a tentative smile, Iolana checks on her arrow to see if it is salvageable, and then proceeds to examine the room.
Vardan wipes his lance clean before slipping it into its place on his saddle and scratches Thorne behind the ear to thank him for the good work. He then turns to the bard and nods, "I agree. Glad to see that thing revealed its twisted nature against an illusion instead of one of us." He smiles at the bard and then looks around, the smile slowly fading as the eerie light remains. I suppose it was naive to hope that it as just the undead beast that befouled this place...
He sighs, then speaks, "There's an ugliness to this glow...", emphasizing that word as if it were the most vile of things.
Jackram examines the dead body that was so recently animated. "Anyone got an idea what this thing is? I've heard of skeletons and zombies..."
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"My lessons have been derelict in that regard I'm afraid. My order focuses far more on demons that undead. I am fairly certain however that the taint you detect is based on the shrine's unconsecrated nature. It's reconsecration is possible, but I am afraid that I have neither the means nor the interest to do so."
"I have come across a lot of information on undead , and for some reason it seems to stick in my mind. Let me think I may be able to place it"
Kyra studies the thing from a distance, choosing to recall when information she can about it before charging into battle recklessly.
"નીચ પ્રાણી, તમે પવિત્ર મંદિર અપવિત્ર કરવું હિંમત હું તમારા હૃદય એક વાર કબજો ખાલી બખોલ દ્વારા આ બ્લેડ વાહન આવશે!" she yells in Aklo, drawing her sword and shield. She would not let this thing out of her sight.
Xanaphia identifies the creature as a Huecuva, the risen corpse of a cleric who blasphemed their god shortly before death.
Kyra is aware of the rituals, requiring several hours of cleaning and prayer to reconsecrate the temple.
"Everyone, I hate to be a burden, but I can't just leave a holy site like this... Please, may we rest here so that I may consecrate the temple? No place of prayer deserves to be desecrated so." she explains firmly.
"If its that important we can take the time to restore this place. But I really need to get back to the surface as soon as possible, when the Demon attacked I was with my family and they aren't hear. I need to get back up there to find out what happened to them
Xanaphia can help with the clean up using prestidigitation and Mage hand but is not really used to cleaning things herself. She has used prestidigitation to clean the dirt from the fall off herself and her clothing.
Vardan nots at the suggestion, "I agree with Kyra... this ugliness unsettles me, but what's more.... the tactician in me worries that we may need a place such as this to fall back to.... unless any of you know of a route out that guarantees we'll reach the surface in a few hours?"
"I agree, while I would like to get back to the surface as soon as possible, I think we are better off resting here for a bit. I am sure the injured can use the respite, and I agree that a place to fall back to might be very important." Having said her piece, Iolana will begin to help the injured into the chapel proper if the decision to stay while is made, and then help clean up the place, also using mage hand and prestidigitate as needed to aid in the process.
Alright then.
Kyra performs the requisite prayers and ritual cleaning needed to reconsecrate the temple. The green light slowly ebbs, until finally it's completely gone and a new light, a white one, washes for a moment over all of you.
Vardan takes a deep breath as the white light washes over him, "That is much better... it was oppressive, before."
"Nicely done Kyra."
"Ye gods, that's a whole lot better."
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"Nothing I can do to help the injured I am afraid"
Xanaphia will check out the temple and the body with detect magic to see if there is anything else here
There is no magic lingering in the temple, nor items beyond the basin of holy water in the entrance.
"I am prepared to move on. Well done on the reconsecration."
Asmodea will head out once again, leading our small procession further into the caverns.
Xanaphia is also ready to move out.
"I can guide Aravshniel and help Anevia, as I don't have any weapons to keep ready in case of an attack "
As the party moves along talking to Aravshniel
"As a riftwarden I don't suppose you remember Jacinta and Iozif Terplans? they were Riftwardens who vanished about 16 years ago and my parents"
Iolana also stays near the injured to help them along if needed and to listen to what Xanaphia is talking about while watching for trouble, with whip in hand.
Vardan nods, "While not a follower of Torag myself, the Eternal Rose respects his craftsmanship."
He finishes rubbing down Thorne and then gets back into the saddle, "I'm ready. Lead on."
Kyra follows alongside the group, her longsword at the ready.
"I sincerely hope we don't find any more corrupted temples along the way...Such a thing is among the worst of insults for those of the faith." she says quietly, prepared to strike any more vermin that might attack.
Returning down the path and off along the intended way, you advance for another forty minutes or so at your slow speed. Eventually you come to a wide open cavern with a high cieling and stone figures carved into the walls. Each depicts a different crusader clad in armor and wielding weapons, but their stone features contain expressions of sadness.
"It seems strange that there would be such statues here, so far from the temple of Torag. I would expect either in a developed area, but the distance between them seems to bely that. Are you familiar with lore regarding the statues of saddened crusaders Aravshniel?"
Xanaphia regrets not having paid more attention to the history tutor, with hindsight listening to him would have been more useful than flirting with young Landon he had been a disapointment. Surely the tutor would have said something about underground cities. However it was too late to do anything about that.
She looked around in the faint hope of recognizing anything
but the glare of the dancing lights made it hard to see into the dim recesses of the room.
She waited to see if the blind elf was feeling more talkative.
Looking around at the area in curiosity.
Iolana then studies the statues to see if she can identify any of them.
Iolana recognizes the armor worn by the people in the drawings as being from the First Crusade.
"Could somebody please describe what has us stopping to gawk?" Aravashniel asks impatiently, leaning against Anevia. "Have we stumbled upon yet another temple?"
Iolana describes to him what we see. "These figures appear to be of members of the first crusade though I don't recognize any of them. Does this mean anything to you Aravasniel? Something about this does not feel right for some reason, I think we might want to be a bit more careful through here."
The blind elf gasps. "There is an old legend that a group of crusaders had become infected with Abyssal energies, and fled into caverns beneath the city to raise their deformed children in place. They say that there are small villages of these mutated descendants down here. This would certainly lend a lot of credence to that theory."
"Were they evil, or just odd - looking? "
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"Just because someone has something unpleasant in their bloodline does not make someone evil you know. I think the statues show someone wither those who fled down here or their children were proud of being Crusaders. On a more practical note if they fled down here then there is definitely a route up to the surface from here and we may be lucky enough to find someone who knows it"
"Let us continue then. I agree that a bestial mien does not predispose one to evil, but it doesn't drive one from it either. Should we encounter these children of the first crusade, I shall treat them as I treat any other. I will kill them if they ally with demons and spare them if they do not."
Re-cinching her gear, Asmodea prepares to move forward.
"Why are you holy warriors always so concerned with demons?" the elf snaps. "They were not corrupted by the energies, merely deformed. It warped their bodies and left them freaks, so they came down to live in the tunnels away from the surface dwellers' judgement and pity. Or so the story goes. If we do find a city, remember they are the descendants of people who gave their lives to fight at the Worldwound. They are unlikely to be evil, let alone allied with demons."
Xanaphia finds herself in agreement with Aravasniel,
"It's always better to judge by acts rather than by appearance or descent, anyone can have a bad start in life and have to overcome it"
but it is time to move on. She follows Asmodea forward
As you make your way through the cavern, you hear a screen, and suddenly there are things descending from the ceiling, bearing down upon you. Strange creatures, somewhere between a bat and a squid.
They focus their swooping attacks onto the loudest targets; Aravashniel, Asmodea, and Xanaphia.
All three miss their marks, landing in front of their respective targets and hissing.
Seeing the strange things drop down, "EWWWWW! What are those!"
She still holds her whip, coiled in one hand, and draws her mace with a grand flourish that she turns into a series of dance steps that have motions miming attacking ones foes.
Iolana recognizes the strange creatures as Darkmantles. Though small, they're strong; their tentacles and cloak-like skin make them excellent grapplers. Typically they attack by dropping from above, and if they mis, the usually fly back up to the roof of its chamber to try again safely.
"વધુ પ્રાણી ઝડપી ભોજન માટે અમને હુમલો? આ રાખે છે, અમે આ ઊંડી બખોલ માં આરામ ક્યાંક જરૂર પડશે! હું આ જેમ હીલિંગ ન રાખી શકો છો!" she says, caught off-guard by the strange creatures. Luckily, she had her sword out, but that doesn't help much in regards to being surprised.