"Uhh...what's wrong with him?" Aurelia asks Kelhuud, looking worried about the strange orc.
"As far as I can tell, poor Groog suffered a terrible head injury at some point in his life," Kelhuud explains. He points to a particularly nasty gash on the back of Groog's head. "Rest assured, he's a trusted companion of mine. Since we've met, Groog's saved my life more than once."
"And the...fashion?" she asks, pointing at his skull necklace.
The weird puppy reached out to his stuff on his neck. He didn’t want to drop his new puppy though, so instead he turns violently away, causing the scaly puppy to sling wildly in his arms as he roared ”No! Mine!”
"And the...fashion?" she asks, pointing at his skull necklace.
"I'm not entirely sure myself," Kelhuud admits. "And as you can see, I'd rather not press him about them."
Jaya keeps a careful distance from Groog and especially from Kelhuud. He seems far more likely to be successfully duplicitous if it comes to it.
"A pleasure to meet you both. I'm Jaya Farwynd." She waits until Croq and Groog are done with their... greeting, before asking him any questions, but has a few for Kelhuud. "What sorts of increased activity are you referring to? We have already seen a pack of wolves who seemed to have been warped by exposure to the energies of some lower plane. Are those sorts of things typical for this area?"
Groog looked at Lady. She used big words. “Ex-po-shur.” “Reef-ring.” “Sorts.”
He hefted Scaly Puppy over his shoulder and turned to her and said ”Groog see mean doggies. No let pet. Bad doggies. Groog see pretty bug. Pretty wings. Groog pet it!” as he began rifling through his pack, eventually producing a thoroughly crushed butterfly and holds it in front of Lady. ”See? Name is Flappy!”
"Okay, Groog. Just don't pet me, okay? I'm Batgirl...I don't like petting."
Aurealia decides to accept the strangely childish orc for now. She waits for the answers to Jaya's questions.
The other puppy said she had a weird name. Very long. “Batgirlidontlikepetting” was way too long for him to remember. Way too hard to say.
But he did know one thing. Nobody tells him what he can or can’t pet. In fact, telling him not to pet something made him want to pet it more!
He unceremoniously dropped Scaly Puppy as he turned and started moving towards Girlidont, extending his arms forward in anticipation of a hug...
"KELHUUuuuuD!" Aurealia shrieks. "Control your orc!"
"I could give him a touch of idiocy spell, but I'm not sure if it'll have a noticeable effect," Kallie offers.
"Groog, that's enough! They're here to stop the mean doggies. I need to talk to them," Kelhuud says, stepping between Aurealia and the massive orc. His commanding voice halts the giant man in his tracks. "How about you go collect some firewood? If you do a good job... I'll let you borrow Sparky Sword for a bit."
An entire deluded cosmology based on everything alive being a dog....amazing. Never know what you're going to come across!
Once the orc backs off a bit, she turns back to Kelhuud. "Thanks. Man hugs make me nervous."
"Anyway, what unusual activity were you mentioning again?"
"Groog and I were attacked by some mad men a few days ago. Naturally, Groog cleaned house before I could even draw my blade. However, I can definitely say that they weren't locals to this area," Kelhuud explains.
"There was also that trio of fancy folks and their servant I spotted the other day while hunting. Their leader was a blonde half-elf wielding a lucerne hammer and dressed in a... dress made of peacock feathers. She was accompanied by two humans: a man and a woman. The man looked like a warrior with his blue breastplate and his scimitar. The woman was a ginger dressed like she just stepped off an opera stage. The servant was a brunette halfling with an eyepatch. She seemed to answer to the ginger," Kelhuud continues. "They were camped out near the old shrine to the west. I haven't seen them since."
Kelhuud takes a sip of water before speaking further.
"As for the fiendish animals, aye. Alaznist experimented a lot with the power of the Abyss. Those energies still permeate from Hollow Mountain to this day and have altered some of the wildlife," Kelhuud concludes.
"I see, thanks. Is the shrine to the west closer than the Bloodstone Bunker?"
"I see, thanks. Is the shrine to the west closer than the Bloodstone Bunker?"
"The shrine is much closer to here. It's at the end of the western trail you saw right by where I left my marker," Kelhuud replies.
Croq Gaaaasssps! in surprise at a hug that's strong enough to take the wind out of her...and then smells the massive orc and starts to choke more.
Gaaahk! Gaaahk!
When he sets her down and she collects her breath, she dusts herself off and says, "Groog, you are a nut case...but no doubt handy to have around in a tussle. Howdy.
"And for the record, I'm a crocodile. See the big teeth?" She grins wide for his benefit.
"Mm. We've had run ins with some of her catspaws in the past... What say you all to making the shrine our next stop?"
"That was my thinking, especially since it's much closer. After that we can probably head for the Bunker."
After several minutes, Groog returns with a very, very hefty load of branches, small logs, a couple rocks, and a bush. He quickly moves over to Kelhuud and drops it into his arms and on his feet. As he struggles with it, the orc takes the sword from the man’s scabbard and begins waving it around excitedly. The blade of the sword dances with electricity as he waves it around like a small child would a play sword.
Kelhuud appears to be used Groog's antics and manages to quickly give the massive orc some space.
"Thank you, Groog," Kelhuud says after setting down the heavy bundle. "Given how late it is already, I suggest heading to the Bunker tomorrow morning. Traversing the island at night isn't safe. Even Groog is wary of what lurks in the dark around here."
You all soon head toward the shrine. Amusing, after returning Kelhuud's sword, Groog decides to accompany you. He remembers seeing some "bad doggies" in that immediate area and seemingly wants to protect his new friends from them.
After hiking about a couple of miles, you eventually reach your destination. The doors to the complex are closed. The shrine itself is made from worn and weathered stone. However, you can still see carvings of what appear sea monsters etched into the walls. In particular, the most prominent seems to be one of a demonic merman whose bottom half is that of an eel.
Even now as the sun is slowly making its way toward setting, all in the immediate area is calm.
How will you approach this?
"Just learned Auronee sent someone to retrieve you. Refused explanation. Look for Saoirse: human, strawberry blonde, brown eyes, scythe, jovial. Serves Gilda Queen? Has letter."
"Has letter" likely means that Saoirse will have a sealed letter for you written in your and your mother's personal cipher. She has sometimes contacted you this way before. If their content is particularly important, these letters have a habit of disintegrating after a few minutes post-opening...
"Should we cast some spells and then go knock down the doors as it were?"
"Hmm. We may be seeing an additional element at play. Apparently my mother has sent a Gildan by the name of Saoirse to... retrieve me. I don't intend to go along with this unless I'm given a particularly good reason, but if you see a-" she sighed -" 'jovial' human with a scythe and strawberry blonde hair, she should probably not be assumed to be hostile."
"Hey! Look at all the cool carvings in those doors. I wonder if they're about some god? I bet it's a really obscure one. Like maybe...hmmmm...CHALDIRA ZUZARISTAN?!?
"I heard Zoli worships her, and I figure she must be the most obscure goddess ever. And there are eel-people on this...and don't the serve eels at Cracktooth's Tavern in Sandpoint? Could this have originally been a halfling temple? If so, then doors this big would've been really impressive."
Kallie frowns. "I... don't think that's right."
The demonic merman is Ibdurengian. He's an obscure Demon Lord, who has long since gone the way of Treerazer. That is, Aroden killed Ibdurengian back during the Age of Enlightenment.
Groog looks to Nice Metal Man and asks excitedly ”We go in!?!?”
Without waiting for an answer, Groog rushes up and pushes the doors to open them.
Seeing Groog is bypassing the planning phase, Aurealia casts shield and bull's strength on herself, using her extend rod.
"Groog, wait-" is all Kelhuud manages to say before his friend abruptly opens the door the shrine.
...Thankfully (and perhaps a little surprisingly), nothing immediately goes wrong! Much like the outside, the walls of the interior are covered by sea monsters and demons. Their typical expression is one of sadistic glee. On the floor, you see a mosaic of a snake with six heads. Its twisting tail abruptly ends at the shrine's western wall.
In the center of the shrine, you see a sacrificial alter. How do you recognize it as sacrificial? It's covered in dried blood...
Aurealia's nostrils flare as she follows Groog into the shrine. Her keen sense sweep the space out of habit at this point.
"Essentially what you'd expect of a shrine to Ibdurengian, except for one thing. For a demon lord that's been dead for hundreds of years, that blood's still awfully fresh..."
"That ain't no blood. I wouldn't touch it if I were you...something is off with it."
Croq nods. "Totally, sis. I don't think it's blood at all. Shall we just ignore it, and check out that secret door over there?"
Croq points out the outline of secret door on the westernmost wall of the room, and then goes over to give it a closer inspection. (Looking for any sign that it's been touched recently, and for how it's used.)
"Hmm... how do you mean unsafe? Do you think it would be ten-foot-pole unsafe?"
"It's as you said, Jaya. 'For a Demon Lord that's been dead for hundreds of years, that blood's still awfully fresh,'" Kelhuud says. "I don't know much about demons, but I hunt enough to know that stuff isn't blood. The scent is wrong. I think it might be a trap of some kind."
"Considering that it's covering a sacrificial alter in a Demon Lord's shrine, I think we should just stay away from it," Galatea adds.
Jaya's mouth twisted in dismay and annoyance. "I hate to leave an interesting specimen like that without a more thorough documentation, but I suppose we can always return to it later if need be. Unless someone knows how to dispose of it?"
"Croq's right, it's some kind of trap probably. Let's go," Aurealia says. She goes to open the secret door, then stands back.
"Hey Groog, I think I might hear puppies in there!"
After conferring with Aurealia and Gali, Kallie gasps and quickly pulls out a flask of holy water from her side satchel. "Here! That's blood's a poison, but holy water will neutralize it. I don't have mage hand memorized today. Who does? That's probably the best way to to clean off the poison, since that stuff is aggressive! It'll jump at you if you get too close!"
It is clear he needed no further persuasion. Groog nearly runs through the wall trying to get to the other side...
"Hmm... if telekinesis isn't available, then perhaps you could use some of your transumatations Aurealia? If you can reach a different vantage point, you might be able to properly pour the holy water from on high without getting close enough for it to reach you- Oh."
Groog rushes into the next room... and nothing immediately happens!
In this room, the "missing" tail of the serpent mosaic is visible on the floor. In an alcove to the southwest rests a statue of Ibdurengian. To the north, there are four statues that continue the theme of decorating this shrine with sea monsters. Their red eyes appear to be gemstones of some sort. Much like the sacrificial alter, they are covered in what appears to be gore.
"Hmm... how much holy water do we have with us? We might need to be careful in this pass through here."
Groog looks over the silly looking rock man thing, eventually kneeling down next to the moved dirt on the floor. That seemed stupid. Who moves dirt? Probably the rock man thing.
He narrowed his eyes at it and said "Stupid rock man thing. Moving dirt for dumb dumbs," before pushing the statue.