"There are methods of...persuasion yes. I expect him to be stubborn about it though." Sevia conceded to Fhanys, and promised she wouldn't hurt any of the residents of the town...especially not wearing her own face anyways. As night fell, she made her way back to the town, taking care to stay out of sight. Once there, Sevia called out her shadow and cast Invisibility on him, instructing him to enter the church and search it for anything suspicious like secret rooms. She then had Epyon fly up to the top of the church to keep a look out on the town and keep in touch with both her and Shadow telepathically.
Her objective meanwhile, was the town hall, figuring she'd try the front door before resorting to forced entry.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the front door of the town hall was unlocked, allowing you easy entry. Within the building, still working at this late hour was a scrawny man with oily skin and red-splotched cheeks, who looked up as you entered. He seems perpetually out of breath, but rises and offers his hand after doffing his hat. "Ah, you must be the visitor I heard about. I'm Early Greedle, Mayor of Illmarsh. I hope my people haven't been too off-putting - they don't like strangers very much, I'm afraid, and it's gotten worse with the disappearances. Still, I say you're welcome here, and you just let me know if anyone bothers you too much. I'll make sure they stop." he said, sounding far more friendly than anyone else in the town had. You don't detect any evil radiating from him, either.
Sevia walked forward to shake the man's offered hand with one of her own. There was no reason to find him off putting, but she felt somehow unnerved by his unusually usual attitude despite the atmosphere of the townsfolk. "Thank you Mr. Greedle, my name is Sevia. I was quite confused by the...cold reception I had received earlier. Why, I just visited your church a short while ago seeking to speak with the clergy when they had quite oddly rebuffed me and for the life of me I did not understand it. You said...disappearances had spooked the town? Is that related to this 'Watcher' I heard someone else mention?" Sevia asked, playing the part of the innocent girl to hopefully lull whatever she could out of him.
"The Watcher? That’s an old superstition that’s been around for years. Probably every port has one — some sea monster that lives out in the deeps and only gets seen by folks out alone at night or when they’re drunk, never when there are witnesses around. I suppose with the downturn lately, people figure the Watcher must have something to do with it." He doesn't seem to be lying to you - he clearly doesn't believe it exists.
"As for the disappearances, it’s true, we’ve had several people go missing recently — over a dozen so far. The sheriff and his deputies haven’t found hide nor hair of any of them, not a single clue as to what might have happened to them. It’s like they just up and vanished. People say it’s part and parcel of the bad luck we’ve had recently, but I’ve got my own suspicions." Greedle looks very nervous, as if he’s weighing whether or not to share more information. Finally, he takes a deep breath and appeals to you for help - your outstanding diplomacy seems to have convinced him you're worth trusting.
"All right, I’m going to come clean with you. Something’s going on in this town, and I can’t sit by any longer and watch it slowly die. You’ve probably heard of the Recondite Order of the Indomitable Sea — it’s our local temple, and most of the townsfolk are loyal churchgoers. It’s no secret that the Order pretty much runs this town. Oh sure, I’m the duly appointed mayor, but it’s the vizier who pulls the strings. And I think he — or someone else in the Order — may be behind these disappearances. I don’t have any proof, only suspicions, but I can tell you that temple is not all that it seems to be. Like I said, practically everyone in town is a loyal follower of Father Voltiaro, including the sheriff, so there’s no one else I can trust."
"I need your help. Normally you would be suspects as strangers in town, but I’ve had you watched since you arrived — don’t look at me like that! You can never be too careful with strange folk hereabouts! Anyway, I’m pretty sure you’re not involved, and in these troubled times, that’s my only certainty. You look like a professional sort who knows your way around the business end of a blade, and I need someone from outside to look into this for me. Therefore, against my better judgment, I’m willing to deputize you to solve these disappearances and bring whoever’s responsible to justice."
"I’m beseeching you on behalf of the good people of Illmarsh to go to the Order’s hall and take a look around. I’m sure you’ll find the priests are hiding something. If they’re behind this, you’ll be removing a blight from this town, and earning the gratitude of its humble citizens. I assure you, you will be well rewarded from the town’s treasury. Fish isn’t the only bounty we take from the sea. There’ve been enough shipwrecks and whatnot over the years that we’ve got some gold amassed — surely enough to gain your services for a short while."
It's not hard to tell that he's both sincere and a bit desperate.
Whether or not the mayor believed in 'the Watcher' Sevia had seen it for her own eyes and was somewhat worried about whatever it was. That said, his earnest explanation at least did endear her to him, so she folded her arms and listened to him. Apparently her suspicions of this place weren't unfounded after all judging by his explanation, though she felt she didn't have the entire picture yet either.
"Very well Mr. Greedle, you seem of dire need of my aid and am willing to compensate me - so I shall look into the matter. I will admit I had my own compunctions about that church before I ever stood foot in here. You see Mayor, there is a very specific reason I am in Ustalav, now I am not making any accusations, but personally I am on...a holy mission...to destroy undead. I found the circumstances around this town to be very suspicious - the disappearances, the absence of a graveyard, the behavior of your clerics. All quite disconcerting." Sevia explained with an edge to her voice and an unpleasant look on her face, making it clear that she took the matter quite seriously, what with the events of Cassomir still fresh in her mind. She imagined Greedle would understand what that meant about someone when they made such an assertion in Ustalav. "Now, hopefully that is not the case of what is happening here, but if it is, then the 'scope' of this investigation could quite rapidly expand. Oh, you need not be concerned of the safety of your people from me or mine - I assure you, we limit our persecution only to those who personally void the sanctity of life. Before I begin my search though, would you mind telling me...exactly what does your town do with its' dead?" Sevia asked, clearly expecting a straight answer. No doubt the Mayor was probably wondering what he'd just unleashed on his town, as Sevia had almost blatantly declared she was assuming carte blanche with the matter if deemed necessary by her.
Once she'd finished with Greedle, she reached out to Epyon through their telepathic link. "Epyon, has the Shadow found anything?"
"Oh, that?" the Mayor asked, seeming a bit surprised by the question. "Our village depends on the water for its survival, so we return all of our dead to Avalon Bay where they can feed the fish as part of the cycle of life. Any who died of a sickness we burn to the bone before tossing in, of course." This isn't exactly the most common method of disposing of the dead... but it's not completely unknown in mortal civilizations, either. Once again, you don't detect any sign that he's lying to you or hiding information - the Mayor seems to view this as a perfectly normal practice, though he's at least intellectually aware that it's different from what other towns do.
Epyon's reply, meanwhile, was in the affirmative... and worriedly so.
Sevia had suspected as much, and frowned poignantly. Of all the means of burial, she found those at sea the most distasteful. She had more important things to handle though, and quickly left the hall behind. There didn't seem to be anyone outside to avoid, but she kept to the shadows anyways, natural habit. She also took the time to cast Heroism on herself.
"Epyon, what has the shadow found? And has he seen any of the priests inside?" Sevia asked mentally as she made her way around the building - looking for an alternate entrance than the front door she could use.
There didn't seem to be any alternate entries to the building - a bit surprising, actually, given that churches usually had small side doors so the clergy could go in and out without interacting with anyone. It might be possible to create a makeshift entry by smashing through the stained-glass windows on the north and south sides of the building, but that would be... tacky.
Your shadowy companion soon returned in person, expressions as difficult to read as always. "I saw... ten." it whispered, body as still as a proper grave. "This... was the symbol they showed in... hidden places." Reaching down, the shadow drew a symbol in the dirt.
Knowledge (Religion):1d20 + 10 ⇒ (15) + 10 = 25
It's immediately recognizable to you as the symbol of Dagon, the Demon Lord of deformity, sea monsters, and the sea. Though not a true deity - at the height of your power he could never have openly confronted you and prevailed, had he ever been inclined to try - he's definitely one of the most powerful lords of the Abyss.
"Disturbing." Sevia grimaced, now understanding why she'd been rebuffed earlier. The mayor's suspicions were now more than confirmed by this. "Well, we cannot just let this stand. Let us pay the priests a visit and hear the confession of their sins." Sevia said, heading back around to the front door and extinguishing any lights with a Darkness spell. She also had Epyon cast Mage Armor on himself and the shadow.
Once in front of the two double doors, she cast Detect Magic just on the off chance someone had the sense to place a magical alarm there - using Dispel Magic if there was before opening the door. Once inside she closed it back up and drew her swords - looking around for any enemies before moving forward to scout, drawing on the directions of the shadow.
There didn't seem to be anyone present within the hall you'd been escorted out of before, but your Shadow pointed to the far wall as you moved. "Lies." it rasped. A few more details followed - through the door to the south seemed to be a bit of a barracks, where members of the order were currently awake. The north room had only a single bed, and he hadn't been able to scout much beyond those areas.
Sevia nodded to the shadow, and moved towards the far wall, searching for a false panel or some sort of trigger to open up the secret room. Of course, just in case some of the cult stepped out of that barracks, she created a Silent Image just in front of the wall, projecting an image of it which she could hide behind that would prevent them from seeing her while she opened it. Mentally, she instructed Epyon to watch the barracks door.
The eastern wall is actually a set of cunningly-concealed folding walls - the only way to open them is to simply push them aside towards the north and south walls (starting at the edges, of course), though the noise of doing this might well alert others within the temple to your presence.
Sevia was fairly confident that she could get the folding wall open without making much noise at all. Carefully, she began inching the wall open - stopping only if the noise it made was too loud.
Stealth:1d20 + 23 ⇒ (14) + 23 = 37
[ooc]If it doesn't seem like she can open the door silently, Sevia will use a point of mythic power to cast Silence on the wall and go through.
Epyon let out a cry of alarm as you pushed the panel open, and the meaning was clear - Behind you!
Standing there was a large sea creature of some kind, covered in chitinous plates, and its two massive claws made a clacking noise as it snapped out in a surprise attack. Of course, even at the worst of times you couldn't be caught flat-footed...
...but on rare occasions you could be hit, and unless you managed to get out of that blow somehow, it would be a fairly nasty squeeze. None of this explained how such a massive creature had been able to get behind you that way... but for an educated guess, the creature was possibly a servant set here to guard the chapel, and may have been given abilities to help it fulfill its job.
Sevia's eyes widened as she turned around, just barely unable to avoid the claw that lashed out and grabbed onto her. She bit back a scream as the creature then attempted to crush her, though she'd had a lot worse. "Epyon...liberating scroll in my pack..." Sevia breathed, her familiar dipping down into her handy haversack for the appropriate scroll for the situation - in this case a Liberating Command scroll, then casting it on his mistress.
With a grunt and a heave, you managed to escape from the creature's bonds, and your shadow reached out to suck away at the creature's strength. However, even as you watched, its muscles seemed to be firming up again - though there was only a moment for that before you began viciously cutting into the creature with all the brutal power you possessed. As the last blow struck it, the creature's body exploded in a titanic spray of water and flowed across the floor, pouring into a number of drains that had been set there. It didn't seem like it was reforming, at least - and whatever danger was here, the immediate threat had passed.
Sevia grimaced as the remains of the creature exploded outward, spraying her with its disgusting bodily fluids. No time to worry about that though, that hadn't been a silent clash as quick as it was. She reached into her pack to draw out a scroll of Hold Portal, handing it off to her familiar as she darted to the door of the barracks, listening inside for any scuffling or sounds that the clergy had heard the short lived battle. Epyon meanwhile readied to cast the scroll on the door should the followers attempt to exit.
Perception:1d20 + 19 ⇒ (7) + 19 = 26
And for the heck of it, knowledge check on the creature
Knowledge ?:1d20 + 2 ⇒ (9) + 2 = 11+ my knowledge bonus in the skill
There were definitely sounds within the room, though nobody was trying to exit just yet. Meanwhile, now that you had at least a few moments to think, you were able to start identifying the creature. It was a Chuul, a type of aquatic aberration with human-level intelligence. Most were evil, but this one seemed rather more so than usual, and the way it had recovered from some of the strength damage before you killed it... definitely not normal.
Sevia couldn't tell what was going on in there, so better safe than sorry. She gave a nod to her familiar, whom cast the prepared scroll - effectively locking the door shut. An easily replaceable item. Moving to the false wall, she once more attempted to push through and investigate the other side - making sure to sweep the area with Detect Evil.
(Translation: The whole area detects as evil. This is a site consecrated to a god of evil, though nothing sticks out as being particularly more so than the rest.)
The hidden chamber behind the secret wall is decorated floor to ceiling with disturbing carvings of devilfish, krakens, octopuses, squid, and other bizarre sea life, as well as unsettling depictions of human women mating with strange fish-men from the sea. At the far end of the room, a semicircular pool of water stands before a large bloodstained altar. On the wall above the altar, a carving of a giant, unwinking octopoid eye gazes over the room, surrounded by sinister twisting runes.
Sevia looked around the room with distaste. It reminded her an awful lot of a church to Lamashtu. Whatever had been going on here, it was no doubt incredibly profane judging by the alter. Two more doors, and nothing of immediately apparent importance - Sevia moved to the northern door opposite to the side of the building with the barracks, quietly opening it to investigate.
A pool of dark water takes up the entire northern portion of this simple room. A plain bench stands against the far wall. Neatly arranged on the stone floor are several bodies, each of which is missing its head.
You can make Heal and Intelligence checks for more information, or leave things as they are.
Well...she had found the missing townsfolk, or at least some of them. Moving over to the bodies, she decided to investigate the morbid scene and see what she could learn. After which she left the room and listened in at the door to the south of the alter.
A careful examination of the scene reveals that the bodies were not decapitated. In fact, it seems more like something came out of their bodies, probably destroying their heads in the process... and there's far too little gore in this room if that were indeed the case. One would expect to see splatters of blood and cranium across the floor and walls, but there's no sign of that here. Wherever the damage was done, it probably wasn't in this room.
All of the bodies are dressed like normal Illmarsher townsfolk or fishermen except one, which wears clothes more fitting an urban merchant than a humble village fisherman, though they are now stained with mud and blood.
With a careful moment of listening, you can hear faint shuffling in the southern chamber - the door is too thick to pick up any more than that.
Now Sevia was becoming concerned about what she was finding...just what was going on here? Now poised at the door, she decided it was time to confront this cult. Reaching down to her belt she retrieved her Rod of Extend, casting first Darkness on her sword to shadow herself and then an extended Haste spell on the three of them. "Epyon, open the door. Shadow, phase into the floor and move into the room" She said to her underlings as she handed her Rod off to her familiar, who cast Open on the door.
Initiative:1d20 + 20 ⇒ (13) + 20 = 33
Stepping in the room, she was ready to confront whoever was inside - either by demanding their surrender or slaying them.
A simple wooden bench stands against the far wall of this small chamber, next to a pool of dark water.
The first thing you noticed, however, was the screaming - the sudden appearance of a shadowy figure had been more than sufficient to terrify the two people within this chamber. They seemed to be a couple - no more than thirty years old, a male and a female, holding hands - and seemed like they'd fall backwards into the water at the far end of the chamber if they moved any further away from the minion.
"Keep it away, keep it away!" the woman cried, holding onto the man's arm as he made shoo'ing motions at the beast.
Sevia frowned at the pair, clearly...not expecting that. They weren't threats though, so she sheathed the blade she'd cast Darkness on, returning the room back to its natural light and revealing herself.
"No. Now get up and explain your presence here - lest I judge you in some way responsible for the death of those missing people I just discovered in the next room." Sevia said threateningly, still holding onto her other sword.
The two mortals immediately cowered under the force of your wrath, so terrified of the impending danger that it took them almost a full minute to work through it and start babbling.
"T-t-the Neighbors h-haven't shown up to t-take a fostering in w-weeks, so F-father Voltiaro decided to bring our s-second daughter to Undiomede H-house. We were w-waiting for them to c-come here and t-talk to us, like they always d-do!"
Sevia sighed, she hadn't meant to be that intimidating. And where is Undiomede House?" Sevia asked, though without the bite she'd had behind her voice earlier. "Regardless, you will wait here until I have investigated the rest of this vile place. Then I will question you further about this Father Voltiaro." Sevia said, before turning on her heel and walking back the way she'd come. She didn't bother closing the door, the two were probably too terrified to disobey.
By now though that Hold Portal spell had worn off though, so she returned to what she though was the barracks - once more drawing her blade and indicating for Epyon to open the door.
The Undiomede house was located about two miles outside of Illmarsh, down one of the roads. Not too hard to find - at some point in the past, it seemed to have been a more prominent part of the town's activities, but such was no longer the case.
Epyon, meanwhile, carefully opened the door... and it swung open to bring you face-to-face with the large sea creature you'd just killed. There was no real doubt about which creature it was - there were fresh scar-marks from where you'd struck it before, which didn't seem to be disappearing, and its other features were quite identical. Behind it - and out of immediate reach - were two men dressed in the robes of local priests, one of them looking considerably finer than the other.
"H-hold, Blasphemer, lest you invoke the true wrath of our lord!" the one in the better robes said, clearly trying to be brave despite his fear.
"Oh, and which lord would that be? Gozreh...or Dagon?" Sevia asked customarily, a wary eyebrow raised at the weak kneed priest before her. "In either case, I fear neither. Now, under the authority invested in me by the Mayor of Illmarsh, you two are hereby charged with the crimes of illegal worship to an outlawed religion, kidnapping, murder, conspiracy to commit murder, and as an accessory to murder! Should you resist arrest I will assume you guilty and resort to lethal force. Leniency or exoneration of your crimes will be proportional to your cooperation in this investigation." Sevia stated bluntly, raising her swords as if daring the two to disobey her edict.
"...Yeah, sure." the well-dressed man said, raising a hand. Even the guardian of the shrine stumbled slightly as his companion turned to stare at him, mouth opening and closing a few times. "What? Use your head for a minute." he said, slapping the back of the other man's skull. "It's far more sensible to do that... or do you doubt our lord's power? This offer has been witnessed by one of his guardians, and he would surely wreak vengeance on any who harmed us."
"Fool. Are you really so eager to meet Pharasma? I promise you I am more than capable of slaying you and whatever you think is protecting your pitiful soul. Underestimate my strength at your peril." Sevia scoffed, giving the two of them a disconcerting smirk as she began advancing on them. "Now, on your knees before I strike you down."
Given the bulk of the creature blocking the doorway from the other side - which you seemed very intent on ignoring - advancement was impossible. Solid objects were still solid objects, even to individuals with phenomenal magical power, and couldn't be moved through that easily.
The priest drew himself up a moment later, though, and fixed you with a surprisingly steady gaze, though you could still see the fear in his eyes. "I agreed to be arrested, not to subject myself to indignities, and I kneel before no mortal. Besides, I'm sure this will all be put in order soon."
"You are a murderer or a proxy to murder. You have no right to dignity. Do not try to deny this, I have already seen the corpses of your little church's victims." Sevia said, telepathically asking Epyon to tell the Shadow to come up behind the recently reincarnated abomination that had tried to kill her earlier. Having tired of giving these two ample opportunity to avoid conflict, she once again launched herself at the abomination standing between her and them once her shadow had positioned itself - rising out of the floor behind the creature. "Out of my way abomination." She said coolly, her swords slicing away at it.
Attack:1d20 + 23 ⇒ (4) + 23 = 27 vs AC Sneak Attack:5d6 + 15 ⇒ (3, 4, 5, 4, 3) + 15 = 34 Iterative:1d20 + 18 ⇒ (4) + 18 = 22 vs AC Sneak Attack:5d6 + 15 ⇒ (2, 2, 1, 4, 6) + 15 = 30 Attack:1d20 + 19 ⇒ (3) + 19 = 22 vs AC Sneak Attack:5d6 + 11 ⇒ (2, 3, 1, 6, 2) + 11 = 25 Haste Attack:1d20 + 23 ⇒ (12) + 23 = 35 vs AC Sneak Attack:5d6 + 15 ⇒ (6, 2, 4, 4, 1) + 15 = 32 Ki Attack:1d20 + 23 ⇒ (8) + 23 = 31 vs AC Sneak Attack:5d6 + 15 ⇒ (2, 4, 4, 3, 2) + 15 = 30If it's still up
If the creature dies, Sevia moves up next to the two priests
Once again, the creature's body exploded - but this time, the waters of its body didn't flow downwards towards the drains within the building. Not all of it, anyway - out from its body launched four slug-like creatures, two of which shot towards you and landed on your flesh. The other two landed on the priest and his companion, who screamed as the blasphemous slugs began digging into their bodies. "Gaaah! Get it off, get it off!" the lesser priest howled, flailing blindly with an iron knife. In your case, however...
Reflex:1d20 + 23 ⇒ (7) + 23 = 30
...throwing them off was an easy task, and they landed with a sickening splat on the ground beside you.
Knowledge (Dung.):1d20 + 10 ⇒ (9) + 10 = 19
With a moment to examine them, you're able to identify these creatures were the larval stage of a strange, aberrant creature known as a moit, or seed, of the Outer God Shub-Niggurath - no friend of Dagon's, and not a deity you ever had direct dealings with in the past.
Whatever was wrong with this town, it wasn't as simple as a cult causing trouble...
Sevia recoiled suddenly as the corpse of the beast flung two large slugs at her, which she quickly shook off immediately. "The hell?!" Sevia shouted with shock, clearly not expecting that, but at least reacting fast enough to the threat to deal with it. The other two clearly weren't lucky enough, as the slimy creatures burrowed into their bodies - which made it easier for her to identify them for what they were. "Shadow, destroy those things quickly!" Sevia shouted with some alarm, eyes widening as she prepared a spell from her mythic power.
The shadow quickly swooped down to the small creatures and lashed them with negative energy - draining their lifeforce away completely.
I'm assuming since they don't have stats that he automatically hits and deals enough strength damage to kill both outright
"Hold still!" She told the priest as he writhed in pain, trying to get a good shot at him as she blasted him with a Snowball spell. Not exactly elegant, but the only thing she could think of that would deal enough cold damage to save his life.
Snowball:1d20 + 16 ⇒ (5) + 16 = 21 vs TC Cold Damage:5d6 ⇒ (2, 5, 3, 2, 1) = 13I believe this kills the slug on the first round of infestation
The companion would not be as lucky as the stricken priest though, as his infestation would be too far along before she could complete a second spell. She dropped her off handed blade and moved over to the man, trying to hold him down and excise the deadly creature. "Stop moving, I'll handle it!" Sevia said, barely able to give a fleeting thought she'd been about to kill him.
Sevia attempts the surgical method of removal for the companion - DC 25 with 3 attempts
Unfortunately Sevia was not well practiced with traditional means of healing, and as she attempted to locate the parasite within the man's skin she botched her first two attempts to kill it. Luckily she was able to skewer it on her third and last attempt, just under the man's neck. Sevia sighed with relief as she cut open his skin and removed the corpse "You are extremely lucky I knew what those were." Sevia told them both as she gave her patient a dose of Lay on Hands to close up some of his wounds she'd inflicted.
The better-dressed priest coughed out a fair bit of blood, outright panic on his face. "It was inside the Guardian. They were inside the Guardian! How is that even possible!?" he shrieked, physically shaking. "Lord Dagon is not angry at us, so he can't have been punishing us... father, what's going on?" he groaned, grabbing the sides of his head.
The other priest was just staring at the blood on his hands - his own blood - and was close to hyperventilating as he trembled. That had been far too close.
Sevia sighed somewhat in relief as she stood back up and cleaned off her hands and sword with a simple Drench spell, picking up her other one and sheathing them both. "Epyon, go check the last room. Shadow, make sure that creature is dead this time." She addressed her cohorts, Epyon flying over the the remaining uninvestigated room and the shadow scouring the floor for anything still alive.
Sevia turned to the two priests who had...quite narrowly avoided a grim fate. "With this...revelation, I think I shall drop the kidnapping and murder charges. Neither of you seem to have a clue as to what just happened, but I do. Those were spawn of Shub-Niggurath, and judging by the corpses I found in the back of your church...there are more. Your entire community is likely in grave danger, so it is in your best interest to cooperate with me and explain everything that has been happening. The disappearances, the watcher, this little fake church to Gozreh...everything." Sevia said, making it clear to them how serious and dire the situation was.
"I don't know." the ranking priest groaned, continuing to clutch his head. "Nobody knows! Things like this aren't supposed to happen - that's why father and the others left! The fish aren't coming into the nets, the Neighbors aren't saying anything... it's wrong, it's all wrong..."
Meanwhile, Epyon let out a warning cry, and this time you had the chance to look back into the hall as the guardian of the shrine came out of a fountain, water forming into the shape of its body before suddenly solidifying into its actual form. "...Are you done trying to kill me?" it asked, sounding quite sane. "I'm still trying to stamp out this infestation, but if my priests are in danger, I must protect them."
Knowledge Religion:1d20 + 12 ⇒ (5) + 12 = 17Is there anyway to destroy these guardians for good?
Sevia turned around to face the Chuul again, crossing her arms in annoyance. "You again?" Sevia asked with a scowl, clearly displeased that the creature had regenerated. Despite its reappearance, she did not draw her swords once more. "Persistent...Well, it seems we are at an impasse. Neither of us seems to be able to defeat the other, so you might as well tell me what is going on, seeing as how your lackeys cannot give me anything useful and you appear unable to deal with the situation alone." Sevia gestured to the injured priests. "You are welcome by the way, you know, for me saving their lives? Where did thoise moits come from anyways? They were not there the first time I slew you." She followed up, a small amount of sarcasm in her voice.
The only method you know would work involves tearing down the entire shrine and consecrating the region to another deity.
The large Chuul simply vanished, reappearing thirty feet behind you and stomping down on another slug. Well, that explained how it had gotten into the room... "They appear to have dropped into the water supply, and so were within my body when I reformed." the creature said. "There are not many left, however. As for what is going on, I neither know nor care about what happens outside this Shrine. I guard this place, nothing more."
Would the shrine be under 3000 cubic feet/600 squares? Also, would that be Consecrate as per the spell?
"Typical." Sevia scowled, clearly displeased with the beast's lack of information or any action it had taken to cull the obviously insideous attack on his own religion's community. Well, she would deal with him in a more permanent manner later. Right now she needed to consult with the mayor on how to proceed, it was his community after all. Sevia returned to the better dressed priest, "Get up. We need to speak with the mayor." Sevia said in a tone that brooked no argument, reaching down to haul the man up. "Epyon, go over to those two parents and get them in here. Tell them to avoid the water." Sevia had her familiar go back and fetch the two people she just realized were kneeling right down to the water.
I love being able to actually count the size of the buildings. The entire church is 182 squares. And by consecrating the site, I mean the Hallow spell. I do not encourage attempting this right now - if someone with divine power starts trying to claim a site of his worship for their own (you can only Hallow something to yourself), Dagon's going to notice and respond to that. It's pretty much a direct, personal challenge, and he'd feel about this the way Sevia would feel about Urgathoa moving into the base her church has been using until now.
Of course, as I explained over in the Discussion Thread, free will is important. I don't advise such a course of action, but I won't stop you if you really want to do it. XD
The two parents hurried out, looking like they'd prefer nothing more than to run away from all this mess and avoid getting involved in something that had clearly gone far beyond what they'd ever expected. The priest, meanwhile, wasn't resisting as you started bossing him around.
I can't just eliminate the church and not try to claim it? Well. Either way I can't cast hollow. What if I just destroyed the church and didn't cast the spell?
Sevia pulled the priest with her as she began leaving the church, she really only needed one of them, though she wouldn't object if the other followed with her. Her familiar quickly returned to his perch on her shoulder, while her shadow fell in behind her as they left the church. The unlikely lot quickly made their way across the open ground to the town hall, Sevia hauling the whimpering priest along by his cloak with hurried steps and knocked rather loudly on the door before bursting inside.
"Mayor Greedle. I return with grim tidings." Sevia said, yanking forward the priest and sitting him down. "You were correct to suspect the church. I discovered their 'temple' to Gozreh is secretly a shrine to Dagon, a demon prince of the Abyss. I located your missing people within the church...I am sorry but they have all died." Sevia paused to give Greedle a moment, realizing the news would be highly shocking. Not only were his townsfolk dead, but also secretly worshiping demons. Before he could speak up though, she raised a hand to forestall any anger he might direct to the priest she had brought with her. "No doubt you are angry, but please listen. The situation is even worse than either of us suspected. Their church is not responsible for their deaths, at least not directly. They have been keeping the real culprit a secret though. In truth, your town is now under threat from the spawn of Shub-Niggurath. It is better to think of them a disease, parasites that infect people and then kill them to propagate."
You can wreck the place and not attempt to claim it - that's both wiser and within your power. If you only destroyed the physical building, the place would remain sacred to Dagon, sort of the way old, ruined shrines out in the middle of nowhere can still provide blessings to passing adventurers. Or host a bunch of undead that climb out of the ground and mob said adventurers when they're sleeping. Either one works, really.
The complicated explanation is that this is basically a part of how the universe treats a site as aligned with a faith. To qualify, a location must have a physical icon (such as a holy symbol), an accepted member of the clergy regarding it as their 'church', two or more non-clergy believers accepting it, or be somehow blessed, typically via Hallow or, for shorter periods, Consecrate.
For a good comparison, imagine that demons go wreck a church in a city, maybe near the Worldwound. The people of the surrounding area still regard the ruins as the site of a church dedicated to a specific deity, so that place would remain sacred, though it might not have as much power until it's cleaned up a bit. To truly be destroyed as a sacred site, it would need to have all iconography of the deity removed, have nobody interested in repairing the place, and have no ongoing blessings. Thus, the most reliable way of making a place no longer sacred is wrecking it, scattering the worshipers, and dedicating the site to a different deity after building up a new temple of some kind. No site can be sacred to more than one deity unless said deities specifically agree to it, which is most common in churches that hold services for many faiths.
It took several moments for the mayor to process things - but finally, he nodded decisively. "We'll take the priests into custody for now. What about their leader, Father Voltiaro? And I must ask you to keep quiet on these matters for the moment - people are nervous enough as it is, and I don't want them to panic before everything is back under control."
"Are you sure? The longer they stay unaware the greater the risk the spawn will infest their homes...well it is your town - take whatever preparations you feel necessary. But be warned, the creatures can grow to vicious things, and they are surely gathering in numbers that could swarm this place soon. Father Voltiaro is at the Undiomede House. By your leave, I will head there immediately and arrest him. The situation with the spawn...may be more difficult to resolve." Sevia said, wondering how the mayor wanted to proceed there. She was concerned about running into the larger spawn that this town would be unable to deal with. That said, once she was done here, she'd need to send Epyon south to inform Fhanys to memorize several Cure Disease spells.
"All the more reason to find out exactly what's going on." the Mayor said, nodding firmly. [b}"If anybody's sick, we'll do what we can to heal them, of course, but nobody's seen any sign of these... spawn... outside of the church, and people have been going missing for quite some time. The infestation may not be nearly as widespread as you think - though we will, of course, be increasingly cautious. I don't think one night is going to change that, but if we can get Father Voltiaro to talk, we may be much better-positioned to stop this problem at the source."[/b]
"Very well, I will return shortly." Sevia nodded to Greedle, who seemed able to handle the situation. She paced back outside the hall and looked in the direction she'd been told the residence was located. "Epyon, scout ahead and locate our quarry. Shadow, follow him." Sevia told her familiar, letting him fly off with her cohort in tow. Sevia hustled after them by foot, not quite as fast but able to at least keep up somewhat. Sevia also kept an eye out for any creatures that might be lying in wait out at night.
The Undiomede house was two miles outside of town, at the end of an overgrown and rutted carriage path. The path was particularly poor close to the village, but the farther you moved, the clearer things became - and your tracking skills came in quite useful. There are several sets of shod humanoid tracks heading toward it, including one set of tracks that is much larger than the others, and they seem to have been made within the last twenty-four hours. Unfortunately, there's so much overlap that it's difficult to tell how many creatures there are, though there were definitely a minimum of three. All tracks are one-way, heading towards the house.
The building itself is an old two-story manse, built of mortared stone that seems to have endured the weather quite well. The roof seemed to be made of wood, though, and looks rather more damaged than the stone.
There seem to be several entrances, including the front doors, a side door, and spaces for a carriage and horses a little further away.
