The wooden walls along the northern section of this room give way to natural stone. From the narrow entry alcove, the room expands into a vast area filled with rampant green vegetation. Thick briars and vines cover the eastern and western walls. To the west, the vegetation overruns several neatly arranged sets of patio furniture. Further south, past the morass of vegetation, a stone building looms, the top of it emblazoned with a brass-winged eye.
Is the Brass-Winged eye recognizable as heraldry or religious iconography?
Knowledge (Nobility):
Knowledge (Religion): (Bardic Knowledge)
Knowledge (History):
I have an arcana too if it helps...
"How can this vegetation grow in this darkened gloom?" Xavien wonders aloud. He keeps his sword ready and his eyes sharp as he approaches the building.
No darkened gloom here. The room is kept bright by a half dozen ever burning torches.
Corran and others immediately recognize the iconography of the lost god, Aroden. He points out that the two statues in the corners as depictions of Aroden’s two former heralds: Arazni and Iomedae.
"...even with these torches glowing?" Xavien continues. "I admit that I am reluctant to enter the forgotten temple of a dead god, but Aroden was ever a friend to Taldor of old, and perhaps the temple has some secret passage that provides a way out."
With that, and a cursory check for magical auras, he moves to the temple doors.
As Xavien enters, a rustling begins in the shrubbery to the west. What seems to be a mass of diseased fibers growing on a plant suddenly moves and slithers independently from its sickly host towards Xavien!
Perhaps I know an old song or bit of lore...
Knowledge (Dungeoneering)
Xavien starts and turns his blade towards the slippery thing...
Initiative:
Leo
Ianthe
Xavien
???
Kenton
Aurelia
Corran
Trant(?)
Dame Trant looks more conflicted than ever. She finally spits out some words, "What should I do?"
Corran has no idea what this thing is, but Xavien thinks this is a Garden Ooze. A garden ooze is an animate, acidic mass of protoplasmic goo that dwells among foliage and scavenges proteins in the form of carrion or small animals that blunder into its vicinity.
Round 1:
Leo: Go
Ianthe: Go
Xavien: Go
Trant: TBD
Garden Ooze: TBD
Kenton: TBD
Aurelia: TBD
Corran: TBD
Ianthe moves over to Trant.
Lady Trant, we're intelligent women. Trust your instincts. But, I think keeping your distance and attacking that thing from range is a wise choice.
"A garden ooze!" Xavien cries. "Eschew acid, favor fire!"
He retreats a few paces back towards the door, and readies his weapon for when the ooze approaches.
CRIT MISS
Lady Ianthe's words fall on deaf ears. She's literally not sure Trant heard her.
Xavien prepares, but it's not a well balanced preparation.
Round 1:
Leo: Go
Ianthe: Fail
Xavien: Ready
Trant: TBD
Garden Ooze: TBD
Kenton: TBD
Aurelia: TBD
Corran: TBD
Hearing the shouts from further forward, Leo rushes -- all the way from the rear -- into the chamber.
Leo rushes in, while Trant again seems to freeze with indecision.
The ooze shambles forth to Xavien and suddenly a pseudopod of vegetation lashes out:
for and
Round 1:
Leo: Move
Ianthe: Fail
Xavien: Ready
Trant: Waiver
Garden Ooze: ATK
Kenton: Go
Aurelia: Go
Corran: Go
"Quickly, Dame Trant! You've got this!"
Aurelia gives her an encouraging smile, adding, "We're all in this together!"
She then rushes forward, bringing the light with her.
"Gods be damned! For Taldor!"
Trant raises her blade high and rushes past the others to enter the room. She plants her stance near Xavien. Gone is the bully, and in her place is a warrior. A tear in her gown reveals a slightly striated quadriceps muscle. She's her for combat now.
"Xavien retreat two strides and I'm on your right."
Round 1:
Leo: Move
Ianthe: Fail
Xavien: Ready
Trant: Waiver
Garden Ooze: ATK
Kenton: Go
Aurelia: Recruit
Corran: Go
Kenton, who had been distracted with the historical flags, snaps back to present and hastens toward the noise while drawing his rapier, not even realizing he has one of the banner poles still in his hand.
A loud hiss escapes Xavien. While brawling with men is all fun and games, he is not quite accustomed to engaging vegetables. "My thanks, Trant," he follows in a pleasant tone to the Madame. "Watch out. Bugger does not hit very hard, but gods does it sting."
Double move for Corran. He enters, drawing his blade and takes a position across from Dame Trant.
Kenton and Corran both close distance.
Round 2:
Leo: Go
Ianthe: Go
Xavien: Go
Trant: TBD
Garden Ooze: TBD
Kenton:TBD
Aurelia: TBD
Corran: TBD
"Here, I shall make room," Xavien says, stepping to his left to give the others a clear path to the ooze. His blade slashes down.
THREAT
Xavien's blade strike clean, but the ooze is a jumble of parts, no one part more vital than the other.
Round 2:
Leo: Go
Ianthe: Go
Xavien: Hit (immune to crits)
Trant: TBD
Garden Ooze: TBD
Kenton:TBD
Aurelia: TBD
Corran: TBD
"Dammit! Alright, I got this. I'm going to ~@#$ing help!"
After Xavien jukes, Trant rushes in - rapier first in a near fleche attack:
, but she misses.
Round 2:
Leo: Go
Ianthe: Go
Xavien: Hit (immune to crits)
Trant: Miss
Garden Ooze: TBD
Kenton: TBD
Aurelia: TBD
Corran: TBD
Ianthe moves into position to support the forward combatants and lets loose a bolt at the vegetable.
Lady Ianthe closes to the doorway, and Leo closes closer still.
The garden ooze shudders for a moment before releasing a miasma of putrified stench. It's AWFUL.
Trant turns a sickly green. She doesn't vomit, but only out of spite.
Round 2:
Leo: Move
Ianthe: Move
Xavien: Hit (immune to crits)
Trant: Miss (Sickened through Round 5)
Garden Ooze: Poof
Kenton: Go
Aurelia: Go
Corran: Go
Leo spots the action well south of him, and hustles towards it. "I'm coming!"
"Ack! And it stinks, too!" Xavien much prefers garden-variety villains to an actual garden pest, but he manages to keep his lunch where it belongs.
Seeing Dame Trant affected by the creature so, Corran grimaces, holds his breath, and moves to attack the compostable foe. No quips issue forth because as I said, holding breath.
Falcata: and sadly immune to crits BUT...
Corran's approach is quick and efficient, with a single cut of his forward-curved blade, he cleaves the ooze in twain. The parts discorporate quickly.
Dame Trant immediately turns her rapier on Corran and Xavien!
"All my life I've been told that only the weak need friends, only the weak need others at all! Look where it got me. My father is dead on the senate floor and I find myself beholden to people I threatened not two hours ago. What do I do now? What does this mean? How the !#%$ do I go forward?"
She lowers her rapier and fights back a tear. She mutters to herself the same question, "What do I do now?"
Ianthe moves forward to take Trant's hand.
Right now, WE escape this place. Then, we find answers to what happened on the Senate floor. Focus on your next step. Then the next. And the next step after that. Before you know it, you'll have traveled someplace you never expected. And you don't have to make it alone, if you don't want to.
Corran gives her a proper Taldane salute and sheathes his blade. He extends his arm to her, offering to clasp her arm, and flashes a devilish smile.
You do the only thing that any of us can do. You carry on. For your father. For his parents. For the line of Trant and the blood of Taldor. We do it together. For everyone out there who cannot, we carry on. We charge until we can't. Then we run until we can't. Then we walk. Then we stumble. Then we crawl. But we join hands and we drag the fellow behind us until we stand together.
"Thank you? Huh, my father told me never to thank anyone for anything, ever. This is all really new. I'm a quick study though. Come on now. I need to get some ~@#!%ing revenge."
"Thank you? Huh, my father told me never to thank anyone for anything, ever. This is all really new. I'm a quick study though. Come on now. I need to get some ~@#!%ing revenge."
I fear your father was a lonely man, m'lady, Kenton says gently. I understand the desire for self-reliance, to be sure; yet friends are family bound beyond blood, and should be treasured, not cast aside.
As for reliance on others, well, he continues, one can strive to be independent and still realize when another is more skilled than they. This is no crime, but a sign of growth.
"I think a better truth," Xavien muses thoughtfully, sheathing his blade as well, "is the proverb: one is only as strong as one's friends. Should we both make it out of here alive, I shall be proud to count you among mine," he adds, with a grin and a bow.
"Come, let us see what is in the temple."
Aurelia beams, smiling at all the words she didn't have to say. "Welcome, Dame Trant. You're in great company."
Three rows of pews stand before a stone altar. A human statue stands atop the altar, its face and right arm broken off and shattered at the floor around it. Two smaller statues of women—each wielding a sword and shield—stand in raised alcoves in the southeast and southwest corners.
"Welcome to my temple!" A booming voice comes from everywhere and nowhere at once. A moment later, a man appears, floating slightly over the altar itself. He is striking in his distinctly Azlanti features. His presence is near overwhelming. "Long have I awaited the moment of my return. My time has not yet come, but I still possess a connection strong enough to bestow a boon. Nobles of Taldor, place your sacrifices upon the altar and receive my blessing."
Aurelia raises an eyebrow. "What sort of sacrifices do you mean?"
The trappings the "man" wears are all wrong for this to be Aroden...
"This is a place of the Old Ways, so into the tithing box goes a tenth of your platinum, gold, or electrum."
Ianthe whispers to the group, I don't think this man is who he professes to be. Stay wary.
History:
Corran winks at Ianthe.
He walks a little forward and acts like he's going to count out a tithe. Instead, he is using it as distraction to cover him looking about, searching for someone or something hiding in the shadows and possibly projecting some kind of illusion.
Perception is +5
Aurelia nods in agreement with Ianthe, watching Corran's gambit unfold.
Above you in the rafters is a strange creature the size of a human child. Dressed in red robes like those of a senator of yore, this little monster displays a sharp-toothed smile and flips a gold coin in its hand and holds a dagger in the other.
Oh, Mighty Aroden, let this humble offering... One... Two... Corran reaches into his pouches for coins and produces a feather. Stop me if you've heard this one...
Corran casts Hideous Laughter
Initiative, I assume?