Cautiously tapping his way down the stairs his eyes look to the red mist. His memories go to the various stories and tales of a red mist; "Mist that steals memories. Blood sucking mist with star-vampires inside. There are many stories, but which is native to Pluton?"
"We need to get through it fast." James says simplistically.
James' knowledge combines with Thom's to offer further gloom. The pair can draw the conclusion that this place was used to flense the flesh from new arrivals to the land of the dead. Nerull was no kindly master.
Apprehension tears into his gut much as the cloud is moments away from, 'I was hoping to leave this place.'
"How do we get around it? Is there some ritual, or protection. I don't think the death-God would have any such safe-guard though. We cannot simply run through it." he tries to mask the nervousness to his voice.
"I thank you for your kind words, though I know not how to kill it..." James looks to the holy warrior; "Your heart is as big as you're honourable."
'To harm it I have to join my essences to it's soul.' his eyes widen at the thought, but he resolves himself to stand and fall by his comrades.
"I wonder if Tavar's ritual to mask our living auras would work here."
"Wise words, mine are but wane in comparison. So do we need to take some precautions, tie ourselves together - just in case one falls?" James swallows; "I can turn myself into a shadow, walk in this and the shadow plane. Become insubstantial, though my actions are limited." he reveals.
"Thank you Saint Tavar for this ritual!" Thom immediately starts preparing the ritual for the others and himself.
James sees if there is any advise for the knowledgeable mage, as the ritual commenses.
"So we are just to walk across there...." James asks before moving forward.
Lanthair regards the mist warily. "This is a vile place," he says. "We would be wise to pass through quickly."
"Agreed. Whatever we do, we have to get through with it fast."
James walks down the right-hand side of the stairs and onto the plateau starting out cautiously then slowly increasing his gait.
James starts to ease his way across the courtyard, relieved to note that so far the ruse appears to be working. The mist still affects him, however. The levels of horror perpetrated over aeons has found expression in the surrounding air.
James smiles to the steel-clad paladins as she moves past him; "It still seems to bite, even with our essence disrupted. Though if something hides in here...?" He walks forward to match her pace, inuring his mind against the evil that permeates the land and the mists.
His cane making a hollow tap-tapping on the stone, where it's lost in the mists.
Raya moves forward in her normal state of battle-readiness. Like James before her, she suffers from the mist, but the blades do not register them as living beings.
The chill bites into him, but fortunately the blades have not seemed to react to his presence. "Steady." he says, so distracted is he by the atmosphere that he isn't even watching the way Raya moves in her plate armour...well not too much.
Thom waves at the two members who have moved in front of the party. "Good going, you guys are doing great! Oh...is it my turn? Oh OK..." He steps gingerly into the mist...
...and is surprised at how little it hurt.
Arishat follows down the stairs and takes position behind a pillar.
Now, no bragging about how you've endured worse. You know how that ends.
James looks across through chattering teeth as the cold bites deep; 'It seems the Ladies are made of hardier stuff than us men!' He thinks sardoically to himself.
Lanthair grits his teeth and makes his way across the foul mist.
James looks to the others, their stoic resolves and grits his teeth to do the same as he moves across the landing. The strange mists, form an apprehensive knot in his stomach. There could be anything in the mists! However he gets to the otherside, Raya guarding his rear. Relief floods across his features, then he realises that he is still on Pluton.
Arcanely aware as he is, Thom suffers the most on the brief journey through red mist.
A curious feeling of empowerment steals over the party as they cross into Nerull's realm. Something, somewhere, seems to be helping them.
James continues down the steps with a slight more swagger, however he still feels cautious.
Down the winding stairs they walk, the darkness and unnatural environs cause James to recollect the horror tales his brother used to scare him with before they went to bed. 'Valentino, I hope you are safe.'
Lanthair seems more agile than ever and as the party continues its explorations.
The stairs grind downwards and end abruptly in another courtyard. This one contains a shattered garden containing a number of dead, blackened, trees. Piles of blood red stone dot the area and a horde of ragged zombies and skeletons struggle to move the shards in an effort to rebuild an enormous statue. From the fragments remaining, it seems to be representing the skeletal form of long-dead Nerull.
Diagonally across lies an iron gateway and beyond that, a path leading to the ruined temple of Necromanteion.
James looks to the others; "Do you think the undead guise will hold? Shall we sneak across." He makes sure to get out his weapons at the ready.
Thom shrugs. "In response to your questions, number one is yeah it SHOULD. As for number two, I would definitely try but we should be ready for a fight here."
"Well, you know me, I can blow smoke." he says with a whimsical self-deprecation. "Seriously, I can throw a smoke-sticks a fair distance to create some obscuring. It's expensive but if it helps us survive."
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"As before, I shall take point..." She pauses, then adds, "Alright instead of saying the obvious, let us assume that is the standard plan of attack from now on."
She points Ruinblade towards the creatures, "Hmmm, let me think here...If we have a long range monster, James can be ready to blind it if they turn. Lanthair can be ready to throw a glowstone at my location, since I shall trigger the attack most likely..."
She considers what lay before her...
Religion