Seeing Lupe charge forward, Katsumi likewise runs forward, attempting to position himself between the gremlin and the monestary to cut off the creature's retreat.
Like a well oiled team Lupe rides his mount into the open, closing the gap between them and the surprised gremlin in a flash and dealing a glancing blow. The gremlin is wounded but not down. Katsumi maneuvers to cut the thing off from any chance of retreat.
Gremlin: -3 HP
Sarona glares at the gremlin.
Forgot the unluck effect for Lupe
; still hits.
The gremlin is shocked, simply shocked, to find itself the recipient of some bad luck.
Rahella thought their plan might accomplish something and it did, just not what they wanted it to, as evidenced when the gremlin attacked! She realized, all too quickly, that the little beast was too far away fro her to be able to do anything to it so instead Rahella remained in her hiding spot and watched for any other gremlins that might join the fray.
Lupe attack has wolf 5ft step and it bites.
Lupe's AoO is enough to fell the wee fey (yes, it will run for it!), though if someone else wants to try to get in the final lick before it tries to leave, you can.
Before the rest of the team can react Lupe reduces the overconfident pugwampi to a gremlin-kabob. The feeling of ill luck fades quickly and thoughts turn to barbecue (or not).
"Well-struck." Sarona nods at Lupe and looks around.
Vulpina chuckles as she rises and dusts herself off. "And here I was worried I would have to lure it closer," she says.
Yep, mounted combat is awesome for getting a quick (and hard) strike.
So, do you all head for the monastery now or do you want to try more shenanigans.
"That was a great plan. Good acting. Can I have my trap back please? Then will we go in?"
Katsumi looked down a little sadly at the dead creature. "Had we spared it, we might have been able to ask about details of what lay inside." He then quietly helped Lupe dig up his trap again, placing the dead body in the now-empty hole and covering it, and moved to poke his head in the monastery to get a quick look at the layout.
Katsumi looked down a little sadly at the dead creature. "Had we spared it, we might have been able to ask about details of what lay inside." He then quietly helped Lupe dig up his trap again, placing the dead body in the now-empty hole and covering it, and moved to poke his head in the monastery to get a quick look at the layout.
Still smarting from his flesh wound, Casper grumbles inconsolably,
"Blasted vermin, that certainly didn't work out as I had hoped."
Then, an expression of inspiration crosses his handsome features,
"Wait Kastumi, I think I may have a more profitable use for that corpse, hand it here, if you would be so kind."
"What is your idea?" Katsumi asked but did not hand over the body.
"What is your idea?" Katsumi asked but did not hand over the body.
Casper smiles wickedly,
"Oh, it will be easier to show you than to try to explain it, so come on, toss it here."
The ginger lifts up his hands, palms upright, smacks them together, then opens them again to receive the tiny corpse.
"If you want me to hand you the body, I'm afraid you'll have to tell me your idea first."
"If you want me to hand you the body, I'm afraid you'll have to tell me your idea first."
Casper frowns at Kastumi, and utters the following words with a suddenly, deeper, heavier, almost mechanical breath,
"I find your lack of faith... disturbing."
Sarona looks at Casper. "Enough of this. Casper, inform him what you intend to do with the body."
Sarona looks at Casper. "Enough of this. Casper, inform him what you intend to do with the body."
"I'm going to drive those little vermin nuts by pretending to offer their fallen comrade's soul to Norgorber."
"Even assuming you're able to convince them you have the power to do this, what makes you think they'll care? The ones back in the cactus forest seemed more than happy to abandon each other when we started to gain the upper hand. As far as I can see, they're tricksters who enjoy causing mischief and pain. The previous ploy leaned on that. I'm not sure an appeal to their compassion would have much of an effect currently."
"All this scheming and plotting is fun because it's neat to watch you all play pretend, but if I have to run up as stab something every time we are adding a lot of extra steps. But, I think you all should put on a play at the camp after the work is done. Everyone will like that."
Lupe goes and digs up his trap.
"I would like to get moving because there are water barrels that need filling and latrines that need digging at the camp."
"Even assuming you're able to convince them you have the power to do this, what makes you think they'll care? The ones back in the cactus forest seemed more than happy to abandon each other when we started to gain the upper hand. As far as I can see, they're tricksters who enjoy causing mischief and pain. The previous ploy leaned on that. I'm not sure an appeal to their compassion would have much of an effect currently."
"Well, we've already killed one by drawing it out through such methods, though I would have preferred to accomplish that goal without unnecessary harm to my person. I think we can make them act foolishly by further inciting them -- not on the basis of their compassion, but anger and distress."
Katsumi sighed softly as apparently Casper hadn't understood his comment. Patiently he explained, "Yes, the ploy worked when you gave them an opportunity to hurt someone. That doesn't mean it'll work when you try something else. From what we've seen, they don't really seem to care about each other or others' fates. I'm doubtful you could get much of a reaction out of them. And the previous ploy didn't even work as well as we had hoped." He then finished burying the body.
"Let try one more luring plan and if it ends up being just trading attacks again I would rather a fight that does not require being able to move as fast as a wolf for me to protect people."
While you are discussing all of this you feel the odd sensation you are all too familiar with, but it comes and goes.
You are quite sure you have been found out.
Deciding that there had been enough talking and waiting, Katsumi carefully moved to talk a look inside the monastery courtyard.
Lupe follows his brother. Switching to sword and board for now.
"I don't like this feeling."
Vulpina sighs, drawing her weapons once more.
"Well, at least we separated the one from the rest," she says.
The discussion seemed ridiculous to Rahella and so she kept her quiet. Their gambit wasn't going to work but it seemed they all wanted to try and continue it anyway. When nothing happened and then they all felt the presence of the pugampi approach and then recede she finally said, "And this is what happens from such a discussion, we lose the element of surprise."
Rahella was rather relieved when she saw that Katsumi had the right idea and moved up to support him as best she could. "Do you see anything?" she asked quietly.
Sarona moves to follow, her fox squirming out of her arms and hopping down to trot alongside her.
Please position your icons on the slide here. A link to the map is available (and always will be) at the top of this page.
You find yourselves in a ruined Nave. The once indoor section has a light carpeting of weeds and scrub brush penetrating through two huge fallen sections of the western wall (note that west is up on the map and north is to the right).The nave is a huge hallway littered with bits of debris ranging from tiny rocks to enormous sections of collapsed masonry. Most of the roof above the hall is gone, but several jagged pillars remain.
Sarona looks around before gesturing to Katsumi. "Lead the way."
Katsumi nodded silently and moved further into the nave, keeping his guard up.
Katsumi heads over to the opening in the middle of the corridor and pokes his head through. Nothing disturbs the quiet and he gets a good view of what looks like more ruined hallways. On the east wall bears a massive carving with a heroic looking man with a pointed beard as its central figure. The man appears in various scenes preaching to an assortment of clerics set in historical times. The first image depicts the man manifesting himself in a spiritual manner to a group of pilgrims. Another depicts him conversing with a man in religious finery as the monastery is being constructed in the background. Thereafter follows a series of scenes depicting a visit by the man in each era of the temple. These depictions often bear an identifying inscription, complete with dates that span several centuries. The most recent is from about 30 years ago there the carvings end with about 30' of blank surface left over.
It also seems like someone had it in for the clerics of the temple who are often defaced ans who's names or honors have been pried off or scratched away. Huge branches and overgrown weeds clog the central opening on the eastern wall.
"Doing this to a temple makes me feel bad. We have to fix this."
As they entered the monastery and began to look around Rahella began to look at the carvings on the east wall. carefully. The depicted mosaics were fascinating to see and they began to niggle at her memory. She looked closer and as she tried to recall what they depicted as she saw the same man come back again and again.
Fortunately for Rahella she had studied the religion of Katapesh and their stories while staying at the temple of Pharasma and she remembered who this was. "This would be St Vardishal, the man this monastery was named for. But I hadn't realized that he lived so long. These images are from the span of centuries!"
"We need to find the creaturs and take a path that does not allow them to get us from multiple sides. We should clear a safe path to the outside wall then work our way inward."
Keeping his voice low, Katsumi responded, "Well, we already safely passed through the courtyard to get here. I don't think there's really a way to block the gremlins from filling that area and trying to cut off our retreat, but yes, we can at least try to clear this place in a methodical manner." He glanced down both hallways before proceeding down one to where he spotted a door at the far end.
"Right, but in the middle of a build you can be approached from four sides. Against an outer wall, you can keep it to three or fewer."
An open arch along the southern wall at the eastern end of the corridor leads off into darkness, while a large archway bisects the north wall, looking in on the monastery's overgrown courtyard. The southern wall bears a bas-relief sculpture in the form or a triptych (a work of art that is divided into three sections), In the first of the three scenes, St. Vardishal takes leave of four similarly attired companions, who rise off into the heavens, leaving him to stand vigil over the large mountain in the background. The second scene depicts him in battle with a flaming half-man/snake creature wielding a spear. The fire spirit is shown transfixing St. Vardishal with the spear. But in the final scene, the hero appears again twice, once on the ground with the mortal wound piercing his back and once standing over this form, looking at it sadly.
Katsumi paused, briefly dropping his backpack to pull out and light a torch. "Well, if we are to start on the outside and work our way in, it seems we are continuing South." With the light in one hand and his blade in the other, he cautiously advanced.
Casper grumbles but follows Kastumi into the ruined building.
This large but plain interior hallway leads to various rooms. A weatherworn status of a winged woman stand in the middle of the hall. The ceiling is perforated with large holes making it a poor choice to weather any kind of bad weather. For those of you who are even remotely familiar with Sarenrae, you will be able to recognize her in the statue.
Lupe casts detect magic.
After Lupe checks for magic, Katsumi goes to listen at the closer door to the southern-most room.