"Destroy yourself." Iris ordered. With its own bludgeoning strikes, it ought to be able to hurt itself when it attacked, given the fragile quality it had been inflicted with. She held off on attacking it herself, though, content to simply maintain the magic for now. Striking it herself would probably summon more skeletons - which was annoying and time-consuming - but hopefully the thing hurting itself wouldn't trigger whatever protection that was. (And if it did, well, she could always join in and speed things up...)
As it turned out, the skeleton-summoning protective magic didn't apply to attacks from the sarcophagus itself. Apparently, the creator hadn't considered the possibility that the coffin could potentially be animated. Before too long, its light faded, and a final blow from your staff permanently put an end to it.
Sorathel smiled, satisfied at the destruction of such a clearly-nefarious thing... and Iris poked through the wreckage with her staff. What unholy treasures might have been here, anyway, and what else might this place hold...?
Based on what you've seen thus far in this complex, this was probably a contingency system for the builder of the lair. Clearly a necromancer (and possibly a lich), this may have been a resurrection chamber. Even if s/he was no longer around, destroying this powerful item prevents it from ever falling into the hands of one who would use it for harm.
Continuing onward, you come to a door inscribed with necromantic sigils. On the other side, you hear movement.
Iris paused a careful distance away from the symbols, gesturing slightly as she focused on understanding them. Best to know what she might be walking into... the fact that she tended to go where she wanted, when she wanted didn't mean she never looked where she was going.
The sigils are connected to death , power, and shielding. Beyond that, you're unable to decipher a specific meaning, as these symbols predate your reference book by at least a millennium.
Ah, dead things. They really did tend to be old. The important question here was what kind of protection they offered. Some shields, for example, simply prevented physical crossing... and did nothing for teleportation. Others were rather better about it.
Hm... no abjuration, then? Curious. With a shrug, she reached out with her staff and, using it, simply knocked on the door. The world's "adventurer" types would probably have just barged in, but she tried to be polite when she could. And if there was an issue... well, she'd just handle it.
Your knock is met by a terrifying howl instantly recognizable as belonging to a Shadow Mastiff.
While a lesser being would flee in a blind panic, though, you're made of significantly sterner stuff.
Could Shadow Mastiffs get through doors? She'd forgotten - one of the many things about mortal creatures she hadn't been able to properly fit into this body's head, though it might have been rattling around in there somewhere. Sorathel, on the other hand, simply shrugged and tried to boot the door open. If such a foul creature was here, the angel had no problem at all with eliminating it.
The door swings open without a sound, and a pair of arrows immediately fly towards Sorathel.
The shooter? Some sort of shadowy humanoid figure. Whatever creature it was originally, it's been wholly corrupted by shadow.
"A moment." Iris said, raising her staff and pointing it forward. Gesturing to an object inside the room, she focused her will and her magic, calling forth brilliant radiance within the chamber - and negating both invisibility and shadows within. "There we go. Begin." she directed.
With the brilliant light illuminating the chamber, Sorathel shot forward to swipe at the closest foe.
for
The archer flickered for a moment before its shadowy form resolidified. As Sorathel rushed forward, the Shadow Mastiff materialized out of the floor and intercepted her.
As the archer's form became more substantial, it fired a burst of shadow from its bow that attempted to cloud your vision.
The strike against Sorathel narrowly connected, but failed to trip her - it did, however, give the angel a target for her strike and she didn't hesitate to take it. Iris, meanwhile-
-managed to physically resist the worst of the shadow spell, but even so, it blinded her for a moment.
"You. Dare." she said quietly, hand tightening on her staff. The blindness would pass, but there was something else she could do... and abruptly, her form blurred as multiple images layered atop each other.
At the same time, Sorathel was busy swiping out at the Shadow Mastiff.
for
The hound appeared rather injured by Sorathel's blows and responded with another bite before merging back into the floor.
The shadow archer, meanwhile, fired a pair of arrows at you before flickering into nothingness. A moment later, a small patch of darkness appeared in the air at the far end of the chamber, and the archer rematerialized.
Iris' sight was finally returning to her - just in time to see Sorathel hit the floor like a pile of bricks as the Shadow Mastiff tripped her. The arrows didn't manage to hit, though, and Iris raised her staff to point at the archer again. Brilliant light gathered together on the end of it, then erupted out in a stream that lanced towards the archer with as much power as Iris could pump into it. She was usually a little softer about things, but even if it was mortal magic, to blind her of all people... well, that was an insult as true as there ever was. It would take time for her energy to recharge after putting so much into a blast, but in the heat of the moment, she was more than willing to accept that.
for
Sorathel, meanwhile, pushed back up to her feet, and readied an attack against the Shadow Mastiff.
for
The archer falls backward and disappears - only to reappear in the opposite corner of the room and fire another blast of shadowy gloom at you. Your blast seems to have damaged it rather heavily, but the shadows permeating the fringes of the room appear to be slowly healing him.
Meanwhile, the shadow mastiff rematerializes and lunges - directly into Sorathel's readied blade. With a surprised yelp, it's sent back to its home plane.
Iris was blinded for the moment, and while she didn't burst into light or anything, the angry tightening of her hand was visible to anyone looking. She seemed content enough to wait it out, though, even as Sorathel dashed forward to swipe at the archer with her blade. Her mistress might have been momentarily incapacitated, but she was all too ready to enact vengeance for the kind of insult this creature had made.
for
Sorathel's blade narrowly missed the archer, who shifted upward out of melee range and fired another pair of arrows at you.
One of Iris' images shattered as the archer's arrow passed through it... and the light returned to her eyes. Noting the creature's new position, she raised her staff again and fired off another burst of light - this one, alas, rather weaker than the last even as she filled it with holy energy. There were limits to what this body was capable of, but she was incensed enough to be striking as hard as she could manage anyway.
There were some things deities just didn't like. Raising an undead in by Pharasma, violating a contract with Asmodeus... really, bad ideas in general, but exponentially worse if you did it right in front of them. Almost everyone had a button that could be pushed, and for Iris, a blinding effect on her person was that button. It wasn't so much the effect itself as what it meant... an attempt to quite literally darken the dawn and remove light from the world. Sorathel, once the blast was done, simply darted backwards and moved to cover Iris with her shield now that the archer was out of sight.
for
Your blast of light struck true, and the archer let out a silent shriek as a large amount of its remaining shadow burned away. It wasn't fully dissipated, though, and swiftly replied with another pair of arrows.
Clearly your light was close to finishing the archer off, as its shots didn't even come close to connecting.
Iris' staff arced through the air as she sidestepped the arrows, and a glimmer of light appeared on the top of it as she moved. As it finished charging, she raised her staff and sent out another blast- rather accurately, but with less power than before.
As she lowered Mihrel, Iris frowned slightly at it, noting the reduction from the previous attack. Admittedly, part of that was because she hadn't Consecrated it, but a series of blasts that grew less intense each time was more Dusk than [/i]Dawn[/i]. She wasn't entirely sure she approved of the way that had been going.
(Why did she care so much about things like this? Image, of course. For a deity, their image was, in many ways, who and what they really were. Iris was about growing brighter and better, not dimmer and weaker, and actually would do something else instead of continuing it...)
Even with its lessened strength, your blast was sufficient to destroy the shadow archer. Still, this was likely only a temporary secession of hostilities, as the shadowstuff is very strong here. If its source isn't taken care of, it's probably that more creatures will come before too much time has passed.
After sending some healing magic towards Sorathel, Iris took a careful look around the room-
-before crossing to the opposite wall and opening the door there. The only way to move was forward, after all, although she did want to pause long enough for her magic to recharge. That would only take a minute and a half or so, which would hopefully be fine.
With the defeat of the creature, Iris' anger was already cooling off and bringing her rapidly back to her normal mood, although she was going to be wary of anything else trying the same tricks. (Hey, she was a goddess. Forgiveness once problems were past was second-nature to her, and she rarely held long-term grudges.)
As you reach for the door, something stops you at the last second from making contact. What had originally appeared as a decorative pattern betrays a much greater significance now that you're close enough to see it clearly. Over 60 small tiles cover the door, and it looks like they can be pressed. In the spaces between the tiles are minuscule nozzles that will likely pump out something unpleasant if activated.
Iris raised her staff a bit to get some better light and view the puzzle more carefully. Setups like these tended to be straightforward - you just had to reverse them by starting at the end and tracking the tiles all the way back to the start. Once you found the beginning, it was simply a matter of pressing them in order - and eventually, her finger jabbed out at the bottom-right before rapidly pressing them in a particular order. Sorathel waited patiently, keeping an eye on the rest of the room as Iris worked.
The high vaulted ceiling of this chamber suggests a large size, but the depths of the room are swathed in stygian blackness. A few thick pillars march away from the door only to vanish into the gloom. Somewhere in the darkness comes a hideous rustling sound as if the very fabric of reality was undulating in unnatural rhythm.
Iris glared at the darkness spell as she entered. She disliked such magic - in fact, she actually refused to grant divine magic that created darkness to her followers, since such spells were naturally abhorrent to her existence. Without hesitation, she brought her staff down and struck the floor with it, sending out a pulse of Daylight to dispel the Deeper Darkness they'd conjured. It was habit, really... and would do nicely to reveal anything hidden within. She wasn't much for sneaking around in the first place - banishing the darkness to reveal herself was far more her style.
Your light reveals an incredibly old lantern forged from black iron and lit with blue-black flame. It rests atop a stone table, a large root coiling around its handle and vanishing into a crack in the stone wall. The air around the lantern ripples with shadow, creating an audible rustling noise. Occasionally, you catch glimpses of a dark, gloomy world through the cut crystal windows of the lantern - it's clear to you that this is the Shadow Plane. Oddly, you feel like you should recognize this object, but there seems to be a gap in your memory regarding it.
You don't have time to ponder this mystery, however, as when you illuminate the area, an enormous figure made from solid shadow energy emerges from the lantern and surges toward you.
Without hesitation, it closes the distance and strikes out at the closest target.
The closest was Sorathel - a very deliberate action on the angel's part, given that she was there to guard against threats to Iris. The angel grunted under the force of the blow, then grabbed her blade, stepped in, and slashed up at the beast.
for
Iris, on the other hand, had simply raised her staff and pointed at the creature. She was offended by its existence on this plane... and by the way it had hurt the only true friend she had. "Return to where you belong." she ordered - and in response to her power, Mihrel pulsed brightly and sent a ray of light towards the creature. Rather than being an attack, though, she was calling on one of the strongest powers she'd managed to pull out from it... a spell to force visitors back to the plane they belonged on. However much she disliked the creature, she didn't think she needed to kill it in order to get the job done... she just needed it gone long enough to shut the lantern down.
Sorathel's blade narrowly missed the Elemental, but that didn't matter too much as...
... your spell promptly sent the creature back to its home plane. A moment later, your light was snuffed out as the lantern pulsed and plunged the area back into utter darkness.
Iris gestured with her staff again, conjuring up another sphere of Daylight to keep the darkness at bay. "I can do this all day if I have to." the noted. "Sorathel?" The angel quickly moved forward, looking for a way to close, turn off, or otherwise get the lantern to stop doing what it was doing.
The darkness melted away as your light touched it, but as Sorathel approached, a trio of smaller Shadow Elementals rushed out of the lantern and prepared to strike.
<"Focus on turning that off!"> Iris told Sorathel as the smaller elementals rushed out. Her staff pulsed again as she sent another Dismissal out at the creature to the west, aiming to simply get rid of them as quickly as possible while her angel worked to shut this whole thing down. There was no sense in letting this devolve into a brawl, after all, especially if the elementals were going to keep coming as long as the lantern was active.
One of the elementals *popped* back to its home plane, but the other two focused all their attention on Sorathel.
It takes a full-round of analysis, but Sorathel's able to determine that the lantern's energy is self-sustaining. Permanently shutting it off will require the item's destruction. However, it's very possible that the tree root winding around the lantern's handle is serving as a conduit. Severing that connection with the outside world MAY keep the lantern's effects confined to this underground building - at least until something else makes contact.
Sorathel was hammered - hard - but not quite enough to discorporate her body. With a rapid slash from her sword, she (attempted to) cut through the root connected to the lantern...
Sorathel's blade severs the root, and the room immediately begins to grow darker. It appears that the shadows consuming the forest above you are being drawn back to their source - the lantern. The good news: the darkness corrupting the land will soon disperse until something once again makes contact with the lantern. The bad news: the darkness in this complex is about to gain a massive increase of power.
Moving quickly, Iris darted forward and opened her bag of endless holding, aiming to toss it over the lantern and pull it shut as the shadows finished arriving, trapping and sealing it in a demiplane until she could find a more permanent solution for it. (For that matter, she actually had an idea about that...) She would have to time it well, though, in order to be sure as much darkness as possible was absorbed and wasn't able to further contaminate this land...
One of the elementals swiped at you as you rushed toward the lantern, but it failed to compensate for your extreme speed. As soon as you reached for it, though, you were assailed by a powerful mental force. This was no mere magic item; it possessed a will of it own. And, as it was aligned with darkness, your very essence was anathema to it - and vice versa. The force that surged against you felt almost familiar, oddly enough, but the only thing that came to mind was an image of a moonlit raven's eye.
"Don't even try." Iris said as she slammed the force of her divine will against the lantern's... and pushed through mostly on raw emotion and sheer indignation that a mere object would attempt to oppose her this way. She was no mortal to be pushed back by such a thing... she was a goddess, and it would do as she willed.
Regardless of portfolio, deities tended to be a stubborn lot - particularly when their opposites were involved. As a lord of knowledge might forever be loathe to recognize one who destroyed it, so too did she refuse to bow to her opposite. Indeed, that was the source of one of her many titles... as the Candle of Hope, Iris rather literally embodied that idea that even a small light was enough to hold back any amount of darkness. They were not equal forces - not even close, and she refused to allow a lantern of all things to stop her from bringing light to this darkened land.
Your staff glowed brightly as you manhandled the lantern into your bag. It bulged, as if its capacity was being stretched to the very limit, but a sharp smack from your hand put a stop to that nonsense. It WAS just a lantern, after all. or was it? You didn't recognize any particular significance to the item, but you DID get a similar sense to that of the Moonlight King - but not quite. There's no direct connection, anyway, but something about the lantern feels similar.
While the vast majority of the darkness had vanished into your bag with the lantern, the two elementals remained, and their attention was now entirely focused on you. While Sorathel was still blocking the path of one of them, she had obviously switched roles in their minds. No longer a target, your companion was now simply an obstacle that needed to be removed.
Iris was struck by one of the blows - and so was Sorathel, who at this point was just barely holding onto her mortal form. <"Retreat."> Iris ordered, and Sorathel withdrew back to the hallway as Iris lifted her staff and triggered its magic again to try and banish the elemental that had attacked her angel. Creatures like these ones usually had little choice about being called out to slay things, and honestly speaking, she didn't want to kill them - sending them back home was far more merciful, and in the end, she was a goddess of good.
Your target *poofed* back to its home Plane as its companion attacked you.
This wasn't enough to defeat you of course, and a few seconds later...
... it rejoined its brethren, leaving the chamber silent and empty once again.
Iris nodded in satisfaction as the chamber was cleared... and she looked down at her bag a moment later. "Behave, or I'll puncture the bag and ensure you're lost forever." she told the item, not terribly fond of powerful dark objects to begin with. With that, she headed back to the entrance of the room, planning to heal Sorathel and then herself as they made their way back to the surface. Among other things, she wanted to see what had changed... and how the mortals who'd endured things were doing. Not that there were too many of those close by, she thought, but she did care about their welfare.
Back on the surface, two changes were immediately noticeable. First, the tree was no longer animate and - while not exactly healthy-looking - would likely make a full recovery. Second, the shadows that had permeated every area of the forest were greatly reduced. While there were still dim patches, most were due to the overhanging forest canopy, and only a few seemed malicious. They'll be easily dealt with if you wish to take the time.