Illyiana realizes she should have asked more specific questions about what it was they were doing with this man. I hope a few arrows won't sway things too terribly.
In the blink of an eye, the ranger sends three arrows flying towards the man.
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The Cardinal remains at a distance rather than joining the invisibility group, his advances age makes stealth something of a losing proposition...
When hostilities break out, as they always seem to, he hurries forward to close the gap before firing a crossbow bolt at the man.
[A: move, A; interact, A: fire]
Ervan lashes out at the man with word and spell. "You fool of a man!", he bites at the vainglorious bastard as he unleashes a beam of pressurized water. Coincidentally, this too is aimed at the man.
Illyiana shoots Gerhard twice, and Lucius connects with his crossbow bolt. Ervan’s spell drenches the explorer and shoves him away a few feet.
”Hooligans! Vandals!” Gerhard declares. He rushes after Pril and swings on her, then reaches behind him and unlimbers his blunderbuss. ”There’s more than one way to light a powderkeg!”
Once she sees the man strike Pril, she knows she should continue to shoot him until he falls to the ground. She doesn't taunt him or even speak, she just focuses on firing three more shots.
"You have to hit harder than that," Pril says, taking the punch without even a blink. She then attempts to knock the weapon out of the man's hands.
Illyiana and Lucius strike Gerhard with an arrow and a bolt, respectively, further wounding him. Pril is unable to disarm the explorer.
"Enough of this!" Gerhard declares, stepping around Pril. He takes aim for one of a trio of powder kegs placed around the temple's interior--
--but as he fires, Ervan conjures a sphere of force around him. The fiery blast from the blunderbuss shatters the sphere but doesn't strike the kegs. "Blast!" Gerhard curses!
As the man steps around Pril, Ervan finds the room he needs to project forth a deadly torrent of lightning. Gerhard's single syllable utterance seems to complete Ervan's spell in and by itself, and deadly lightning washes over the foolish explorer.
After the wizards miraculous barrier saves the day, Illyiana knows the time is now to stop this lunatic. She firs three more shots off with the hope of putting him down.
Knowing just enough about firearms to know that Gerhard'll have to reload the thing if he wants to try that again, Pril continues her assault on the man.
Illyiana shoots Gerhard twice more, while Pril lands a good hit to his midsection. The explorer manages to twist away from the worst of Ervan's lightning bolt, but he still jerks spasmodically as the energy courses through his body. He coughs and falls to his knees, smoke rising from his scorched clothes. "Alright, you knaves! I yield!"
After making sure that Gerhard is removed of everything other than his smallclothes, Pril is eager to investigate what he was so determined to destroy.
"So what theories of yours does this ruin inconveniently refute?" she asks him.
Though he yields, Illyiana advances with an arrow ready to fly if he makes a wrong move. While Pril talks, she keeps it trained on his throat and listens silently.
”Shimye-Magalla,” Gerhard says sullenly. ”The brightest Taldan minds have always believed the Bonuwat people worshipped the entity as a merging of the deities Desna and Gozreh. But it seems as if this temple was devoted not to a combination of the two gods, but to a sort of ‘mini-pantheon’ composed of both of them as individual entities! Plus the location and age of the temple would indicate that the Bonuwat were much more widespread then the common belief. A most inconvenient ruin, indeed! It completely invalidates my previous publications!”
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"And you intended to commit a work of horrendous vandalism, rather than publish a new paper refuting all the scholarship that had come before you? Rather than instantly make your name as the greatest explorer of the last generation?" Lucius asks sternly, shaking his head. "Shame upon you sir. Shame upon you."
"Short-sighted people have no problems molding the facts to fit their theories rather than the other way around," Pril says with a sad shake of her head.
"I want to take a look inside," she says, rising and making her way to the temple. If for no other reason, she wants to remove whatever nastiness Gerhard had planted there.
Gerhard shrugs. ”This way seemed much more expedient.”
Pril finds three kegs of black powder that the explorer had placed around the temple. A thorough search reveals a hidden panel between one statue’s feet. Within is a small hollow containing three amazingly well- preserved scrolls (a scroll of dinosaur form, a scroll of freedom of movement, and a scroll of remove disease) and a ring of fire resistance.
Illyiana moves inside and begins to remove the impending danger, starting with removing the kegs from the power trails so that an accident would not cause them all to go boom.
Pril assists the ranger moving the barrels. Once that's done she spends some time examining the statues and carvings inside with Harriet at her side. "Do you believe that the vile man wanted to destroy all this?" she asks her furry companion.
Harriet growls but seems uninterested in the temple, perhaps wondering when she will be able to indulge in her next meal.
"What should we do with this lout?" Allandir asks. "Perhaps I should escort him to Akrivel so that the Ekujae can dispense justice."
Pril frowns. "Do you think you're up to it?" she asks, her concern for the elf clear. "Besides that means that I won't have a bedroll buddy for daaaayyys," she can't help but add with a smirk.
Once the issue has been discussed and Allandir has left with the dashing-but-vile explorer, Pril addresses the rest of the group. "So, shall we continue in our goal to search for more totems? We've found a totem for each of the general chromatic dragon colors, but that doesn't mean that there aren't more of them out there."
Allandir nods. "I can make it, especially with your blessings."
The elf's sickness abates when Lucius calls on Allandir. He gives Pril a kiss and bids you farewell as he escorts Gerhard off into the jungle.
Illyiana responds to Pril "I will continue to join you in your quest to eradicate these evil totems. I am glad to hear you have eliminated so many of them already."
"Also, if you are cold at night I could keep a fire going without burning down all surroundings if that would help keep you warm."
"I think you're kind of missing the real benefits of a bedroll-buddy," Pril says with a wry grin. She turns to watch the elf as he leaves. If her gaze seems to focus on his well-defined bottom, that could be explained by the fact that she's not very tall and it's a natural place for her gaze to rest.
She sighs again wistfully before directing the others to continue their exploration to the southeast. Then northwards.
Every time the explorer opens his mouth, Ervan wishes the lightning had zapped the bastard into Pharasma's arms. How can someone so devoid of common sense pretend to be an intellectual?! "I'm glad he's gone," the wizard says without realizing how Pril might take that. "May the jungle bestow upon Gerhard what he deserves."
"I hope not," Pril says in response to Ervan's observation. "Allandir's with him."
"Hrm, exactly." As if that ought to explain it all, the wizard runs a finger through his own jungle atop his upper lip.
Illyiana looks at the banter back and forth between the group and asks "Shall we press on now then? Or does someone need a rest?"
Pril looks back at the ranger. "Why? Are you tired?" she asks before breaking out in a broad grin. As if in answer to the real question, the gnome pats Harriet's neck and urges the lion to follow her through the undergrowth.
"What?! No!" Illyiana says, standing taller in defiance. "I thought our wizard friend who has been throwing out shields and lightning bolts and what not! I also thought maybe since you were missing your bedroll, you had grown weary of throwing your fists around!"
She strides forward ahead of Pril, pushing past here into the foilage to make sure she gets ahead.
"She's feisty," Pril whispers down to Harriet. "I think I'm going to like her."
"And I'm missing my bedroll-buddy; not my bedroll," she calls out louder. "I can explain the different usages of such if you're unclear."
You continue exploring the region, but don't come across anything else before you are forced to make camp and rest for the night. The next day, you continue to the east along the river's path.
The rain, nearly constant within the jungle, comes down in sheets between the broken gaps of the forest canopy here, the clouds above almost black and flashing with lightning. Several of the trees in the area are split open, with jagged wounds along their bark, their insides smoldering red as they burn from the inside out.
After exploring the region for a couple of hours, you notice another dragon pillar in the center of the storm-wracked glade. This one's eyes glow with yellow energy, and electricity crackles around it.
Three batlike humanoids emerge from the trees around it, emitting out piercing shrieks as they prepare to defend the pillar!
Ervan attempts to apply a tried and proven tactic to their current situation and hoses down the cackling crackling pillar with a pressurized torrent of water. The only fear he has is that the pillar might project its crackling fury his way through said water blast. Ah, reality always finds a way to keep the scientific method exciting!
"Wow. These people really have a bug up their bum about these totems," Pril says with a shake of her head as she advances.
Illyiana just hrumphs further into the jungle, not turning around to ask the gnome for usages.
The rain doesn't bother her and she has no problems continuing in the sogginess. When the bat-things appear, she targets them as they begin to fly. "Batmen!" she calls out, firing three times.
Lucius blesses the party, then Ervan knocks over the dragon pillar before it can fire its eye beam! Illyiana opens fire, sinking arrows into vital spots in the first creatures body. Pril rushes forward and takes the wounded foe down with a mighty kick.
The two remaining batmen swoop down at the gnome, clawing her and grabbing a hold!
"Hold still, Pril!" Illy shouts as she unleashes another volley on to the creature grabbing her.
Illyiana's call for Pril to hold still serves as a reminder that precision truly is the wizard's domain. With the snap of his fingers and the utterance of a concise arcane incantation, lightning strikes both the batmen.
Twisting free from the bat creatures grasp, Pril turns the tables on them, punching and kicking.
Lucius misses with his shot. Ervan zaps both batmen with lightning. Illyiana lands two critical hits on the creature grabbing Pril. The gnome slips free and pummels the wounded foe, taking it out.
With the tide turned against it, the third batman quickly turns to flee, flying off to the south.
Assuming Illiyiana can still see the batman, she has no intention of letting it go that easily and fires three more shots at it.
With the totem down, Pril has no issues with letting its defender flee. "It's ok. Let it go," she says when she notices Illyiana continuing to send arrows after the creature.
"Nice shooting, by the way," she adds. "Another one down."
Illyiana lowers her bow, watching the creature fly away. She turns to Pril smiles "Thank you. I didn't want it to fly away and have you as a snack later."
"A snack? But I'm ..." Pril begins to answer, but then her lips quirk into a smile. "Oh. I see. A short joke already. Ok, Missy. Just be aware that I can give as well as receive."
The gnome laughs and moves off to make sure that everyone else is ok.