Ingolf gritted his teeth and waited for the elemetal to attack again. He prayed for Gozreh's blessing for himself and his allies.
Ebba waited for a chance to strike the hostile elemental.
Round 1
More aggravated by the elementals and their swooping than worried, Adriana approaches Ingolf and attempts to make herself the easier target, placing a hand on the gnome's shoulder and uttering a small prayer to Sarenrae, deliberately making herself a more tempting target.
Actions Taken
Move action - Move to Ingolf
Standard Action - Casting Cure Light Wounds
Round 2
With Ingolf healed and the elemental in her sights, Adriana once again points her scimitar up at the billowing creature as a wordless challenge and waits for her chance to strike.
Actions Taken
Move Action - Studied Target on Elemental
Standard Action - Hold Action, Attack on Elemental
Looking at himself freezing up with indecision, the druid moves in to repair Ingolf's wounds.
"No wonder the winds are so powerful, they can be anywhere at once."
if Adriana isn't able to finish it off, Jonah shoots the last elemental again
Splits and Adriana heal Ingolf while the gnome casts bless.
The extra blessing seems to turn the party's luck, as a furious series of precise strikes by Ebba, Adriana and Jonah ends the elemental one and for all!
Without Chitauli's presence and with the west corridor collapsed, the energies of the seed here stop pumping into the central engine.
The seed still crackles with electricity on its place though.
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Tonny wipes his brow nervously, then blinks as the second elemental dissipates. "Oh, good work everyone!" he cheers with relief. "Alright, everyone come out of there and maybe Jonah can shoot that orb? It'll probably explode like the first one, so let's not be too close. Oh gods, I sound like Professor Lelet, don't I."
Keeping a hand on Ingolf's shoulder should her gnomish friend need more healing energy as the elemental dissolves under their combined attacks.
Scimitar still raised should another elemental appear, its flames sputtering out, Adriana is the last to leave the room as an impromptu vanguard.
"So once that explodes, what happens?"
Ingolf breathed a sigh of relief when the last elemental was vanquished. With the mention of a possible explosion he moved back. "I'm afraid I've used all my magic for today, and am sorely in need of some more healing."
The group proceeds with the same tactic and destroys the orb from the distance. This one explodes with a burst of electricity.
The room becomes calm once more.
You now have time for healing and to plan your next actions.
Do we need to stop and rest here? we likely don't have much time to waste, but without magic our group may not be enough to stop whatever is going on here.
Ingolf availed himself of some healing from Splits' healing wand.
He replied to Jonah's suggestion, "I could certainly use a rest. I've depleted my spells for the day."
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Tonny hems and haws uncertainly. “Well, if there’s four elements making this storm, then we’ve disrupted two of them, but that would imply an element of earth in a hurricane, and I can understand fire being used to heat the air and raise the amount of water vapor it can hold, but I’m really not certain how earth ties in- anyway, the folks running this ritual might have noticed that something’s up with their power supply and come looking and they’d know exactly where to look, or at least where to start looking, but maybe they’re too busy just trying to keep the ritual from falling apart and they’re powering it with their own life forces now which would suggest they can’t leave the ritual space, but if we’re wrong then…”
"Tonny, if your theory is correct, perhaps we need to press on once more. We need to slow down as much as we can, because once we shut it down we will not know what backlash may happen."
He thinks, "If I could get a sense of the outdoors, perhaps I could see how much time we might have and how pressing it is." The druid remembers the room with the enclosed ceiling, "If only that room wasn't desecrated..."
Splits the Leaves looks at the others, "I will not rest if it risks this place, it would go against what we in the Halcyon Circle stand for. Besides, with shadows and wraiths here, I worry that something greater is brewing than just a storm."
Adriana paces as she thinks on their remaining provisions and their overall health - they could maybe push one more fight, but two felt foolish if not outright deadly.
"We may be able to push for one more fight, but any more will likely be too much." She stands and approaches Splits.
"We will finish what we've started here, I promise you, but at some point we will have to recoup and recover. We've stopped two rituals already, we have to have bought ourselves some time, and we still have allies within the temple itself, so long as our truce holds."
Turning to speak to the rest of her friends, she says "If we fight, I will lead the charge. If we rest, I will get us to safety. Ingolf wishes to rest and regain his magic, Splits wishes to continue. She looks to Tonny and Jonah specifically. "What say you?"
The group makes a short halt to recount resources and make decisions. Healing potions and wands, and other magical resources are given a look, they might be well needed to hold up against this raising forces.
You think the wraith and the ghouls here are part of the previous cultists of the temple. For what Chitauli said, you do think they just came back naturally after their violent death.
It might well be Daruthek learned from Chitauli's undead remains what he needed to trigger the Storm.
"I can keep going if necessary," Ingolf told his companions.
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Tonny gulps. “Well, you’re still a good hand with that hammer even when you’re out of magic,” he offers to Ingolf. “I can try to keep you safe - as long as Ebba’s not too fast for me.” He chuckles weakly, clearly trying to lighten the mood.
“But yeah, there’s also those extracts. I, uh, I think they should still be effective. Mostly.”
I know how valuable the spells in this group can be. I don't want to charge headlong into more fights if our people aren't ready Jonah says.
We should retreat and regroup, allow our people to rest. we will keep a watch in case they come looking for us. hopefully what we have already doone will slow them down a bit. what are the odds that disrupting part of the spell will cause it to collapse or explode or something? is that too much to wish for? jonah asks the magic-minded folks in the group
You suspect although the four orbs are necessary to ignite the engine, one is enough to maintain it working once it has started.
"Much like everything we've seen, many things go into making a storm and even one of the elements might be enough to maintain it... This worries me."
The druid rummages around for what Tonny had given him earlier, "And what of this magic Tonny? What can it do for us here?" He lets out a breath, "If Gozreh grants us the blessing of another day, I am willing to rest. The Wind and Waves are dangerous, but also patient at times and I should perhaps exercise that."
Following Ingolf's comments, the group retreats to the upper temple for resting. You trace back through the previously freezing tunnels and recover the platform that again moves around the engine until you reach the reception ledge.
There, you emerge outside into the temple.
The sky does not look nice. The tempest has been growing while you were down and now looms over the region discharging a lot of water merged with strong winds.
The lizardfolk welcome you to their huts. They look shaky, but the ones inside the temple at least are protected from the worst of the winds.
The night passes, tense, but no one emerges from the inside temple. Perhaps they fear to leave the ritual unmanned.
You are fully rested.
The storm is a fury.
That doesn't look good Jonah says, looking to the sky. Rosemary perches on his arm, not able to take flight in the gusting winds of the storm
Hope you all got your rest, I don't think we can afford to do that again! today has to be it, we either stop the storm now or it will be too late!
The druid looks at the sky, unhappy. "Jonah is right." Beneath his mask he frowns and feeds his companion, "I will have to see what I can prepare today of value, I need to be more forward thinking it seems."
Ingolf woke from his slumber, refreshed. He looked at the weather and agreed with Jonah, "Todays the day — time to put a stop to this heresy!"
Staring up at the sky as she limbers herself up in preparation of any number of fights, Adriana turns to Splits and acknowledges both the druid and the storm.
"We finish this, as promised." She flicks her scimitar and almost marches back into the temple by herself.
Fully refreshed and healed, you head down into the deeper temple once more. When you reach the central engine though, you find out the platform is no longer where you left it yesterday. Someone has moved it and is now hovering over the waters at the soutwest, further complicating your navigation of the complex.
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Tonny looks through his bottles, up at the platform, back at his bottles, then shakes his head. "I don't think I can reach quite that far. Oh! Um... Hmm. Maybe that would work?" Carefully he pulls out a bottle of brown liquid and shakes it a few times. "I, uh, I think this one would help someone if they wanted to climb around to get the platform and bring it back. If it helps, the formula should also help you swim more easily. You know... in case you fall or something."
Jonah looks around for any way to get to the platform, or guide ropes that could be grabbed.
if one of the guide ropes is loose or hanging, maybe Rosemary could be commanded to grab it and bring it back?
Ingolf looked across at the distant platform, "I suppose I could try. It's a long way though!"
He tried to spot any guide ropes that could be use to move the platform.
[ooc]Ingolf knows Mage Hand, although that only has a range of 35 ft, and a weight limit of 5 lbs.
Jonah sends Rosemary to free the platform while Ingolf drinks the potion offered by Tonny.
Climbing like a true monkey through the walls, the gnome reaches the platform with ease, thanks to Tonny's trick. With Rosemary's help, Ingolf is able to free and control the platform bringing it back to the group.
So now, it is a simple decision forward, either exploring first the northwestern alley or the southwestern one.
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Well done my friend Jonah says to his bird, who settles on an outstretched arm.
Now which way do we go? someone obviously used the ramp in the last day, I think we go to the doorway that it was sitting at before Ingolf and Rosemary brought it back for us
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"Yes, yes, that's fine." Tonny is too busy scribbling notes on the margins of what looks like a cookbook, pausing only to look critically at Ingolf. "Now, could you describe your emotional state when you started climbing? Were you thinking about anything in particular? Did you feel stronger, more nimble, anything at all?"
"Sounds good to me," Ingolf agreed, urging Ebba onto the platform. He relied to Tonny, "Well, all that climbing worked up an appetite. For some reason, I could really go for some bananas right now."
Discussing about new found appetite, the group floats in the platform to the south west corridor.
As you step deeper into this section of the temple, the air becomes warmer, even warmer so than in the jungle outside.
Splits uses one of his tricks to scout ahead.
Rippling waves of heat distort the air in this long room, where ten humble bunks line the walls. A passageway leads east from the north end of the room and south. Currents of hot air constantly blow from the southern corridor and out to the larger complex.
One lizardfolk cultist lays in one of the bed. Another one is knelt, praying in a corner of the room.
Splits finds out the door to the south is barred shut and undoes his way back to the party.
Once he is back, he explains you what he has found.
"Seems like there are a couple of cultists over there, as well as a barred door."
sounds a lot less intimidating than the stuff in the last two rooms. either this one is going to be easy or there's more tricks in store for us. let's try to get the drop on the cultists at least
unless someone else has a plan, Jonah will sneak forward and try to get a shot off at the praying cultist before the rest of the group rushes in.
Ingolf waited for Jonah to move forward and take his shot. He didn't want to ruin the surprise by moving in prematurely.
The bar is on this side. What that does mean, is possibly only guessing.
Jonah sneaks in. One of the cultists find out, but he puts an arrow through the other that is praying. The arrow lodges in the cultist's head and falls bleeding to a pool of blood, his hands still in prying position.
The other one, stands up during this surprise shot "What the?!"
Everyone except Tonny are able to react before the cultist can do anything to defend himself.
Ingolf rode into the room, fueled with rage, and attacked the surprised cultist.
Ebba slammed into the startled enemy.
After Jonah lets loose his shot as their secrecy is gone, Adriana charges forward with Ingolf and Ebba to blindside the last cultist.
"Try to take him alive, we can use what he knows!" She shouts, eyes firmly on their target.
The druid holds a blast of wind in case reinforcements come from the doorway.
Before the remaining cultist can make sense of the situation and react, Ingolf, Ebba and Adriana pile attacks on him while Splits keep him away from the door.
The lizardfolk falls to the ground of the chamber defeated.
2x scrolls of spiritual weapon
2x +1 leather armor
2x mwk trident
2x holy symbols
Sturdy iron doors cover small niches in the eastern wall of this wide chamber, and a variety of tools, metal poles, and crucibles line shelves carved into the western wall. An iron door in the east wall currently stands open Three emaciated corpses, mummified in the room's oppressive heat, lie on the ground. A hefty iron door seals a passage to the east.
You notice the furnace doors rattling.
You identify the phenomena as a haunt! You have barely one single opportunity to blast it with positive energy to dismiss it before something horrible happens.
Particularly, you think this haunt is vulnerable by cold damage too.
To permanently destroy the haunt, the three dead bodies be laid to rest in fresh water, or a half-gallon of water must be poured down each of their throats.
The liquid in the glass decanters here is magical. Identification will require the usual holding of the item for three assaults and a Spellcraft check.
jonah makes sure the lizards are dead and helps collect their goods. he will let the others lead from here, covering the advance with his bow. if someone is nearby they probably heard the short but brutal fight.
Aided by Lightfoot, Splits the Leaves hears a rattling by the furnace doors. "Wait."
"This place is haunted."
He looked and saw the bodies and put some of it together, "I can hold it back with some positive energy or coldness, but to lay the souls to rest we must put those bodies in fresh water or give them water to quench them."
Ingolf asked, "Where should I apply the positive energy?" He intoned a prayer and touched the spot he was directed to.
Jonah raises an eyebrow. Haunted, eh? it sounded crazy, but was it really any crazier than anything else they had seen since arriving in this place? he leaves the ghost hunting to the professionals and hangs back covering them with his bow
"Water? That should not be difficult." Adriana says, keeping her scimitar in hand just in case, and looks to Splits. "I can help with creating water, or if you have it under control I will assist Ingolf to give you the time you need.