Tasha looks to Ruinë. "It's up to you, Milaya," she says.
Ruinë considers briefly and nods once "Let us continue, I have enough left for one more battle I should think."
Rows of splintered wooden pews face an oval marble dais three feet high. Wide marble steps lead up to the dais, and a polished mahogany pulpit stands at its center. A glorious fresco on the curved wall behind the dais depicts Aroden engaging in several tasks: battling an imperious necromancer, raising a pair of islands from the sea, and standing atop a mountain with his hands outstretched, wreathed in blue flames.
Hideous images scrawled in tar and old blood painted over the fresco tell a vastly different story. A reptilian humanoid climbs a tunnel from the depths to the surface in one scene. In the next, he reaches out to snatch an orb from a tower drawn on one of the islands, then crushes the orb in his fist. This image repeats four times in slightly different‑looking towers, followed by a final scene of dead trees and skulls around the mountain.
It seems that you have interrupted an unholy ritual. A slight xulgath is anointing three hulking, 9-foot-tall xulgaths with a mixture of blood and foul‑smelling fungus. The smaller xulgath's grayish skin is pulled tight over her bones, giving her a vaguely skeletal appearance. Her mouth is set in a ghastly grin, and she wears a delicate circlet perched incongruously atop her head. The larger xulgaths clutch massive mauls.
They turn to confront you, snarling with rage!
Ruinë gasps, "What a horrible thing! We must stop this at once! Please!" Trying to conserve her magic for now, she fires a cross twice with great failure.
Ruine’s bolts miss her target. While the lanky xulgath casts a spell of blindness, the bigger ones move in and swing their mauls, one landing a brutal blow on Ashlion.
Tom {A}Strides behind Grelda to take aim at the closest monster.
Tasha moves into the room and past the same xulgath that Ashlion is attacking to attack it from the rear.
Ruinë looks at everyone's health and determines that the situation is not dire enough to need healing yet, so she drops her crossbow and throws her hand forward to produce a ray of fire.
Grelda tries to make a xulgath laugh but it doesn't work. Ashlion steps forward and crushes the skull of one of the xulgaths with two critical hits! The barbarian's refusal to bend has left the xulgath that struck him off balance, and the rest of you seize the advantage. Tasha tumbles behind him and stabs him twice, Tom hurls two daggers into his chest, and Ruine finishes him off with a ray of fire.
The last hulking xulgath grabs Ashlion about the throat and slams him to the floor!
The lanky xulgath tries to stab Tasha, but she nimbly dodges! The cleric then conjures a shield of force.
Tom {A}strides in behind Tasha and starts to move around to flank, but isn't quite there. He {A}smears a dagger with Graveroot Poison.
Grelda gives her husband's fate a little nudge to guide his aim.
Tasha laughs as she again does a stage tumble past the xulgath grappling Ashlion and then stabs at it with her blade.
Grelda guides Ashlion’s maul as he smashes the xulgath grabbing him, landing another devastating critical hit. Tasha fails to tumble through the big brute, but she still finishes him off with her first rapier thrust, allowing her to dart back to flank the last xulgath with Tom. Tom stabs the xulgath but she resists the poison, popping her shield to absorb some damage.
She steps up to the juggler and tries to strike him, but like Tasha, he nimbly dodges her attacks!
Ruinë presses the attack and fires another ray of fire at the xulgath!
She then turns to Ashlion and tries to help heal some of those injuries on him.
Grelda misses with a projectile.
Tom waits for Tasha to move in on the xulgath, then {A}steps back and pierces it with more knives!
As Tasha gets to face the skinny spell-caster, she smiles showing all of her shiny black pointed teeth. "Are you prepared to meet the Grey Lady?" she asks.
|
Unfortunately, with a lack of foes actually attacking him, Ashlion is largely unable to contribute apart from standing there glowering in all directions while Tasha quips. That gives him some direction but he doesn't want to hit the tiefling rather than the real foe.
Fortunately his magic-wife is perceptive enough to see the issue and directs him where he needs to be.
Though Ashlion's swings go wide, Ruine scorches the xulgath with an intense blast of fire. Tom lands a hit with a knife, while Tasha scores a critical hit and follows up with a confident finish that takes the xulgath down!
Grelda exmaines the silver circlet. "There's a lingering aura of magic on this. It's broken, but if we can find another one that's still enchanted, I think it can help us use the pool we cleansed."
She then examines the images painted in blood over the frescoes. "I can make out a few words here in Draconic. 'Sarvel Ever-Hunger,' 'orbs,' 'vengeance.' And every place Aroden is depicted, the word 'thief' is covering his face."
Grelda crosses over to Ashlion and slips her arms around his waist. "You fought admirably, even without your sight. You are a mighty warrior indeed, my husband," she purrs.
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Ashlion smiles widely, kisses his magic-wife and then flexes jokingly.
"I WILL REMIND YOU HOW MIGHTY LATER!" He whisper-rumbles in Grelda's ear. "FIRST WE MUST STOP THESE HUMAN-GOD-HATING LIZARDS. FOR SOME REASON IT IS ALWAYS LIZARDS. WHEN WE WERE IN THE JUNGLES TYGRAH AND I HAD TO PREVENT A GREAT STORM AND SAVE HAIRLESS RORY FROM HIMSELF! HE WAS VERY MUCH IN LOVE WITH AN ARTIST, BUT HE DID NOT KNOW HOW TO PLEASE HER PROPERLY. HE WISHED TO DRAW PICTURES ONLY! I TOLD HIM WHAT WAS REQUIRED!" He shoots a look over at Ruine, "THEY ARE VERY HAPPY TOGETHER NOW. THEY HAVE NO BABIES BUT THEY DO DRAW NUDE PICTURES OF EACH OTHER."
The point of his lesson may not be entirely obvious...
Ruinë has no idea what in the world Ashlion is talking about, but she smiles and nods anyway. "That's nice." she says in response before turning to take up the prayer beads.
"These are quite interesting, I think I'll hold on to them and examine them later if you all do not mind."
To Grelda, she nods and says "Good thinking, Grelda. I do hope we can find the other one."
She then calls everyone over who is injured and begins to help treat their wounds before they move on.
As Ruinë is tending to her healing duties, Tasha steps close and whispers, "I think Ashlion is suggesting that we draw nude renderings of each other, but I'm not sure why."
"Oh." Ruinë whispers back, "I did not get that at all. I was trying to figure out what babies had to do with nude drawings."
She considers the idea of a nude drawing of Tasha and asks "Do you want me to make a nude drawing of you, Tasha? I may not be capable of adequately capturing your beauty through this method, but I can try if it would please you so."
Tasha skin grows a little more purple in embarrassment. "I don't think anyone else other than you needs to see me nude."
Once everyone's healed that needs it, Tasha leads the group to the southeastern door from the main sanctuary.
The marble walls of this short hall are smeared with blood. A thin, greenish haze fills the air, giving off a smell of sodden leaves and decay. Peering closely through the fog, Ruine spots a faint rune on the floor—a magical trap!
"Tom?" Tasha says with a raised eyebrow at the juggler. "That looks like something more your speed than mine."
Guided by Grelda, Tom confidently leaps forward—and lands directly on the rune! It flares with power, summoning a hulking, reptilian beast!
The beast snaps its jaws shut around Tom, breaking off one of its teeth in his flesh!
"Tom! Let me guide your fate!" Grelda shouts, hoping the half-elf delays a few seconds. She calls on her powers to guide him.
Ruinë slides beside Tom and adminsters first aid, attempting to remove the tooth from his skin. "I got you Tom, hold still just a moment..." she says, trying to get her fingers around the lodged item.
Tom {A}steps back, reeling from bite! He grits his teeth and tries to scratch out the rune!
...but his fate betrays him.
"..traveler guide me..
As Ruine yanks the poisoned tooth out of Tom's side, the juggler bravely ignores the slavering reptile and scratches feverishly at the rune. The monster roars and prepares to chomp down again before it suddenly vanishes when Tom successfully disables the trap!
"What WAS that thing? Tom says as he sneaks off curiously deeper into the temple.
Thetwo identical roomsto the south look like they once contained mundane items used routinely in worship services. A few moth‐eaten priests’ robes still hang from brass pegs in both areas, and shelves stocked with metal pendants, candelabras, and bells line the walls. Empty spaces on the shelves suggest that some items here have been removed, and a broken bottle of scented sacramental water on the floor of the western storage room hints at the intruder’s disrespect for the site.
The eastern storage room contains a battered iron shield on a rusted stand. Identifying magic reveals it’s a lesser sturdy shield that is perfectly serviceable despite its dented appearance.
The double doors to the west open onto a chamber that has towering ebony doors to the west. A stone statue of a human man clad in a flowing robe has one hand raised in a gesture of warning and a burning brazier held in its other hand. The statue looks as though it has been broken and reassembled several times. It stands directly in front of the western door. Other than several chunks of stone and black wood scattered across the floor, the room is bare.
"See?" Tasha says with a black grin when Tom manages to disarm the trap, returning the vicious creature back to whence it came. "Easy, peasy."
She looks over the discovered shield with a frown. After a concerned glance at Ruinë, she picks it up and gets a feel for its heft. "I guess it's not too bad," she says with a shrug.
"I have no idea why," she says in answer to Ashlion's question. "Is that supposed to be Aroden?"
As Ashlion approaches the statue, intent on smashing it, it suddenly animates and prepares to attack!
The statue hurls flaming coals from its burning brazier, one striking the barbarian!
Grelda quickly casts a spell of haste on Ashlion!
Tasha moves in to join Ashlion, tumbling past the statue and raising the steel shield experimentally.
"Sef... what do I do against a statue?"
Ruine scorches the statue with a ray of flame. Ash scores a good hit, chilling away at the stone construct. Ruine tumbles between its legs and stabs it in the back. Tom lands one good bit, but his dagger doesn’t seem to hurt the statue.
The statue swings its fist at Ash, missing the first time but then connecting and grabbing him!
"uhhh... time for something different!"
Tom draws his bull whip and tries to pull the statue to the ground!
With Ashlion’s first hit, the outer armor of the animated statue shatters, leaving it easier to hit and damage! He lands one more hit. Grelda misses with her projectile. Tom’s whip does harm the construct now.
"Ash! You're right, HARDER not SMARTER!"
Now that the armor is gone, tom throws a slew of daggers.
The first one flies wildly!