"If we can't manage it I don't think the folks up there are up to it." Razkiv walks up to take a closer look at the alter for weak spots.
@Dol: You could do some ritual's to sanctify the altar. It would take some things from the church (holy water, incense, candles, etc) and takes several hours, but it works similar to a high level spell (and costs gold).
@Loth: Keep in mind that you don't know what is above you. Collapsing the room may bring down something from on top....
@Aventail and Razkiv: The altar appears to be a large block of solid marble. It could be smashed, probably, as easily as any marble slab. Which is to say, not easy, but doable with the right tools.
You should all consider, however, the implications of destroying anything dedicated to a god/goddess. Especially an evil one.
"Der be rumahs...summa baddy god were pissed at tribemate fer waterin da altar... Cursed 'im sumtin bad..." remarks Mizzug.
Giving the altar as wide a birth as she can, she makes her way to the double doors and checks them over.
Bumbo follows along with Mizzug, blindly trusting her perception skills as Toot scan about for danger.
You notice nothing else of note about the doors. They are big, and seem to be unlocked.
As standard, she glances back towards her companions. With a solemn nod, she grips her hammer in one hand and slides the door open.
Loth follows suit, unsure if he's really ready to see what's behind the door.
Aventail moves to support Mizzug at the opening portal.
Razkiv stands to the rear uneasy to leave the profane alter.
The orange pool gives off enough light that the room counts as normal light.
Glancing towards her companions, Mizzug remarks "Tis strange place...tis normal fer ya hoomany types ter build tings like dis?"
Keeping her hammer held tightly, she moves up to look at the pool of water.
Toot follows along at Mizzug's side, convinced that she is able to find the best battles. Bumbo follows a bit less confidently, his eyes looking from one side to the other expecting an attack at any second.
”A little on the dramatic side” murmurs Aventail taking care not to touch...anything.
"Well, if there's nothing here, we might as well double back, no?" He tries to play it off, but the place makes him more uneasy by the second.
As you enter, a small voice calls out to you. Seemingly to come from mid-air, and moving around as it speaks, not just from side to side but up and down as well.
Mortals, you have entered my home. What brings you here? Have you come to offer yourself to the pool?
Toot hears the voice speak very close to his "ear", but move back as it speaks the next part, You, however, are not like the others. You are like me. Bound to service by another, would you like to be free?
”Show yourself voice so we may know whose home we have entered. And if you are bound is this not your binder’s home - where are they?” Aventail calls out.
Toot bucks and snorts at the voice, whirling about as he could attack it. Bumbo looks about in confusion, scanning the room for any signs of this new creature.
Oh, such a pretty thing. I've not seen your like since travel over the seas stopped all those millennia ago. And so many questions! Yes, this is where I am bound. No, it was not her home. But surely she is dead now. How long has it been? How long have you walked amongst these decaying mortals since the great catastrophe fell from the skies? You all hear a deep intake of breath as the voice continues to move around the room, side to side and up and down. you all stink of viscera, have you killed my servants?
"We only killed the ones that gave us cause, we left that mutated wretch to it's pitiful life."
The Druid moves into the room to stand beside Mizzug, trying to find the source of the words.
"..Who are you? How long have you been here, hidden under Sandpoint?"
Aventail thinks carefully before answering, and then decides not answering at all might be prudent. She beams a smile, feigning deafness or ignorance and tries to discern where the creature making the voice was...
I slept for a thousand years at least ere you saw me, and I will live another thousand if I keep my wits - where are you??? she thinks to herself.
Looking around for the unseen creature, Mizzug frowns. "Me no see ya. Where ya be? You is old?"
"No gud ta kill old tings. As fer ya serve-ants, we no kill deadies. Dey in holes."
Bumbo takes a step back, into the corner, his eyes locked upon the pool. He's abundantly curious, though not brave enough to get a step closer. And...if we step into the pool, what would happen - to whom is that an offering?
@Loth: Sandpoint? Is that the name of the hovels that have taken the place above ground? How long has it been there? That is how long I have been beneath it.
@Aventail: You catch its spot for a brief instant (you think), but the next time it speaks is several feet away.
@Mizzug: Those failures are not servants. Those of claw and teeth, like you, but different.
@Bumbo: The voice is closer than ever before to you, but again it moves back as it speaks. Finally, an interesting question.... You don't step into the pool, that would hurt even me. You offer of yourself. Your anger, your wrath. The emphasis on the last word is heavy, but its meaning may be lost on you..... As to whom, who can say? Surely she is dead by now, but has someone taken her mantle? The shrug is almost audible at the end of that statement.
@Everyone:
Come now. Need we be foes? Can we not be friends? Give of yourselves and let us be allies. Come to the pool.
"My anger? You no make me mad...yet. No need be angry."
Loth takes a deep sigh. Clearly they're in too deep. "... What would offering to the pool achieve?"
@Dol: I am bound until she releases me. If she is dead, she cannot release me and thus... you can almost picture a sweeping arm gesture...here I stay.
@Loth: Achieve? Why, so much and yet so little. My servants, the ones you slew, they are created through offerings. Come, the voice trails off towards the back of the room. help replace that which you have destroyed.
Recalling the beasts they fought, and her poor skill it hitting them, Mizzug cocks her head to the side. "So iffen we do dis, we be stronga? Betta than we was before?"
Thumbing her chin with her free hand, she leans towards the voice's last known location "An whatcha get outta it?"
”Be careful Mizzug - the voice means will be turned into one of those things. A shambling near-mindless lump of pain and misery”.
Aventail turns to where she last heard the voice.
”Or have I missed something?” she asks the air.
Bumbo seems to be a bit frightened of even being addressed. He leans a bit back towards the entrance to the room, looking at Aventail in the process. Sounds like the right of it...and I for one don't want to be one. I think we should leave this place for someone who knows a bit more about how to deal with it.
He looks towards the center of the room. Whaddya' think Mizzug, Toot...lets get outta here, eh?
Glancing one last time at the pool, Mizzug nods slowly. "No wanten me brains sucked out."
She turns back to the door and begins following her companions.
Razkiv looks at the others, "What others? Who is going to do this if not us? We can't just keep kicking this rock down the road. That sort of thinking has let this rot fester for as long as it has." He grips his ax tight and widens his stance.
"I can not back down, I will not back down"
You will not change, not permanently. Just need to take some emotions for a while.
Once Bumbo suggests leaving (and Dol agrees), she speaks again and for the first time, anger is evident in her tone. No. You have come, invaded my home, killed my servants. You will submit or you will die. With those words, the giant double doors slam shut.
INITIATIVE!
"Well, guess the decision has been made for us!"
Loth draws both daggers and looks around to see if he can spot the origin of the voice.
Eeep! Bumbo jumps at the slamming of the doors, and whirls around to look at them with wide eyes. He pulls his sling with a grimace, and loads it, more for a feeling of security than for actual threat. Toot! Get ready to...well, I dunno. But get ready!
Toot snorts and searches around, looking for something to kill.
Loth looks around and can hear a voice, but isn't able to locate it beyond south and east (ie deeper into the room).
Nothing else seems to happen. As your muscles tense, your pupils widen, and the adrenaline flows, your bodies instinctively prepare for battle. And your heightened senses only precept the chanting of magical words intoned in the strong tone of spellcasting.
Razkiv raises his shield in the direction of the voice and lets his ax ht the floor as he reaches out to nature to call forth an ally.
Bumbo holds steady, waiting for some danger to show itself, or rather, waiting for the doors to open back up so he can run.
Hearing the strange noise as the dwarf chimes in, Mizzug does her best to sing along. "Catchy tune! Ummgawamagamoooo"
"An yall was worry wanted us ta fight."
Relaxing her hammer arm a bit, the woman sways back and forth to the chanting tune.
"What could she possibly summon to give us trouble?" Loth asks while taking a more defensive stance.
Not seeing any direct threat as of yet, Aventail also goes total defense.
Finishing her summon spell, you all feel the sweat from your skin seem to pull off of you and watch as the moisture from around the room seems to coalesce into one spot, then freeze in an instant, giving rise to a creature seemingly made entire of ice.
Unseen by you all, she surveys the battlefield for your responses and then targets Razkiv, hoping to interrupt his spellcasting. Razkiv, your attention turns momentarily to thoughts of a comfortable bed and a good night's rest, before shaking it off and resuming your casting.
---Ice Elemental---
New emerged into this world, angered by that fact, but under the control of the creature that brought it here, the elemental attacks Bumbo.
Its chilly arms slam down around Bumbo, somehow still missing him despite his plump body.
Aventail adjusts her posture, and calls to her associates.
”Form up! Defend one another and stand firm!” she shouts, her voice gaining an otherworldly auto-tuned timbre for a fraction of a second.
Unable to see the master creature, Aventail briefly considers dropping her glaive-guisarme and pulling out her crossbow, but ultimately favors her hafted blade...