Gaelan looks flabbergasted when the fortune teller gives him the gauntlet. "Are you sure, madam? Perhaps you could sell it and start a life in Vigil again. How will you survive? May I at least compensate you with 500 gp for now and I will return it when our quest is complete? Please, I will not accept it otherwise." The elf is serious about the exchange. If she agrees, he will graciously accept the magical gauntlet.
Sir Garvis twitches his moustache after his conversation with Solanis. "Thank you for bringing this my attention. We will investigate further in Vigil. Keep a lookout for this horror of an undead dragon." If nothing else is needed, he gather his soldiers and Lacramoria and heads east.
Lacramoria scoffs at the elven paladin. "When am I ever going to need a gauntlet, but fine. You do have a point about needing starting funds. The gauntlet is your party's destiny. I saw it in the cards. Trust me, you will put it to good use. If you want to return it, look for me in Vigil." She accepts the paladin's 500 gp and says goodbye to the party.
"I will definitely do so, Lacramoria. You are in safe hands." He bows before her and wishes her well. Gaelan gives a warrior's salute to his fellow paladins of Iomedae as they leave. He then turns to the party, "Quite impressive dealing with the hag and her coven. Ready to move to the next gate?" As he speaks, he shrugs. Maybe the fortune teller is gifted with the sight...why chance it? He dons the Gauntlet of Rust.
"Not my first ghost party in these haunted lands. I would gladly refrain from it though."
Aja puts another teleport scroll from her bagpack into her quick access scroll case signing the party that she is indeed ready to go on.
Sister Zephra blinks at the ruins of the village. "Are we not following the trail of the undead dragon? Or the specters? It seems like there was more going on here than we uncovered, but... If we are to continue through the gates, I will of course go with you."
"Although I am loathe to leave such an abomination alive, I fear the amount of security we have already tripped while traveling through the Witch Gates only leaves our target more and more able to respond to us. We can return for this creature afterwards."
Sola looks around with some concern. "We really can't afford much more time here..." she answers tentatively, "but we got interrupted before we actually looked for the dragon at all... we should probably at least take a few minutes to fly up and see if we can spot some kind of lair from here. Firstly because such a creature should surely be destroyed, but secondly because if our true quarry has some way to call it we could end up fighting it at the same time we're battling other serious threats. It'd be safer to kill it while its alone- much safer."
She looks to her companions for replies, and adds, "Zed, I think I'm strong enough to carry you up to do the looking, if you're willing to give it just a couple more minutes of attention?"
"Of course. I only hope hauling up a grim death-hunter like a kitten can have the intimidating effect on the undead we hope it will."
Aja looks at the weird combo of Dame Solanis carrying the Dhampir and then looks at Gaelan. Before anyone can say something she says "I'm not gonna carry anyone of you!"
With a laughter she rises up high, too, and looks around with Zed.
Aja looks at the weird combo of Dame Solanis carrying the Dhampir and then looks at Gaelan. Before anyone can say something she says "I'm not gonna carry anyone of you!"
With a laughter she rises up high, too, and looks around with Zed.
[dice=Perception]1d20+17
LOL!
Dame, Zed, and Aja fly up, leaving Gaelan and Sister on the ground. However, other than Lacramoria and the paladins walking off, they do not see much else of interest, other than a mountain range in the horizon.
Gaelan is ready to go through the gate.
Once she’s deposited Zed safely back on the ground, Sola looks to her fellow paladin who seems to be growing impatient and offers, ”I asked Sir Garvis to alert his order to the dragon’s existence if he didn’t hear from us that we’d destroyed it. Hopefully they’ll have more success in finding it than we did... unless it’s laying in wait for us at the next gate... In either case, it does seem that perhaps the time has come to move on?”
Sister Zephra returns after looking over the village more carefully while the others were away. She nods, indicating she is also ready.
"That was wise of you Dame. Who knows? Perhaps the skeletal dragon is an ally of the Whispering Way and we will meet up with it later. How many more gates do you think? Aja may run out of scrolls." Gaelan grips his blade and prepares himself for Aja's magic rollercoaster ride.
As normal, the party holds hands, while Aja intones the magic necessary to teleport you across the land. You close your eyes briefly and reappear and the four of find yourself inside a metal cage of bars inside of a stone tower, that reeks from a horrible stench! The bars are 2 inches in diameter and spaced 4 inches apart. As you gather your surroundings, you come to the horrid realization you are standing on the naked and rather fresh corpses of perhaps other inhabitants of the cage that you find yourself in. There also some skulls and bones strewn about the cage of victims who died years ago. Sister Zephra's stomach sinks to the floor when she notices that each of the fresh corpses bears a necklace with the insignia of a silver raven. The corpses have looks of horror frozen on their faces from their last seconds of life.
Before you can react further, an incorporeal spirit of an elven woman rises through the floor outside of the cage to the north and speaks in a horrid unnatural voice, "Password now or die!" The spirit waits for an answer but you can clearly tell that it will not give you more than 6 seconds to respond.
The bars are 15' away from you, the spirit is 20' away. It's hard to draw a cage so will have to use theater of the mind for this one.
Gaelan sees the corpses of the Silver Ravens and says a small prayer for their souls. As he sees the elven spirit rise up through the floor, he cannot help but mutter, "Selene?" He shakes his head no and tries to analyze the situation. Deadly bars of iron and piercing shrieks await, striking cold the hearts of men. Maybe the fortune teller really had a gift....
"Deadly bars of iron and piercing shrieks await, striking cold the hearts of men." Aja mumbles.
"That's what the old lady said and now we know what she meant. That's why she gave you this glove, Gaelan."
Aja wastes no time seeing the Banshee blocking their say.
1.5 = 96
With her Sandals of quick reaction she can also move and does so to stay close to the paladin.
Sola begins orating the tale depicted on her armor, of the still-human Iomedae vanquishing a powerful banshee . Focusing on her holy symbol for a moment, she directs a blast of holy light at the spectral woman .
Sister Zephra draws in a sharp intack of breath. "Banshee, an undead and incorporreal minion of the Whispering Way! Um, it is vulnerable to sunlight, and do not let it touch you, for I think it will drain your life force," she says.
She concentrates briefly to protect herself against its negative energy, steps closer, and draws and throws her dagger at it.
The banshee is caught unawares by the party's hostility, as Aja's blast of light burns it, causing it great damage. Thankfully, Solanis has to alter her blast of light at the last second to avoid hitting her fellow party members and misses the elven spirit.
Zed moves up with Gaelan and Aja.
Round 1: Banshee
Seething from Aja's light blast, the visage of the elven spirit changes completely to one of twisted pain and anguish. She then screams comes from a place deep inside, from the core of her undead existence. Her purpose is to scream, the piercing wail echoing her hunger in its intensity. Her purpose is to quench, but not her own lust, and not her own longings - but to quench life itself!
Round 1:
Gaelan grunts in agony, as he almost felt his heart stop, but fights through it. He grasps the bars of the cage with his left hand and activates the Gauntlet's magic of Rusting Grasp. "By Sarenrae's will and might, I smite you elven sister. I swear we will destroy you today!"
Zephra's eyes widen as the death effect washes over her, leaving her weakened but still whole. She steps closer again and calls upon Pharasma to bless her weapons, and then throws them at the banshee in a dizzying barrage of blades.
Gaelan touches the bars and the gauntlet immediately rusts them in a 6' circumference, as the bars turns to dust and the party is free.
Aja easily shrugs of the scream of death and counters with another ray of sunshine.
x1.5 = 84
With Sister's dagger strikes all hitting and Aja's second ray of pure light, the banshee is disintegrated!
With Gaelan freeing you from the cage, you see a massive gate blocking the exit to this room barred with a complex lock.
With the danger over, you also find the remnants of the Silver Ravens, with none of their gear obviously.
With a flap of her wings, Sola takes off and charges through the air to attack the banshee with her spear.
Zephra kneels beside the corpses of the Silver Ravens. "I would like very much to see that these friends are laid to rest in a place that is not haunted by the restless dead. Yet I am not very strong. Would one or more of you be able to help me carry them?"
Sola glides back over to Sister Zephra and places a hand consolingly on her shoulder. “I’m sorry for your loss, Sister,” she offers softly. Once the other woman has had a moment to grieve she says with equal softness, “it might not be possible to carry them out of here... we might not be able to teleport them. Could we possibly build a funeral pyre to honor them and safeguard their remains?”
"Great job all of you. That wail was intense. We had to take her down quickly. I hope her scream did not alert more enemies. Perhaps they will think her scream eliminated any threats, as I am sure it normally does."
After Sister Zephra speaks, Gaelan looks at her with admiration. "Your heart's in the right place, Sister, but unfortunately, my strength is from my agility, not my muscles. I am sorry for your loss. I will say a prayer to Iomedae to watch over their souls." After a moment of silence, the paladin moves over to investigate the exit and the lock. He sheathes his blade and checks the gate for traps, magical and otherwise, and then pulls out a lockpick to open the lock. He is very methodical in his attention to the craft.
- Gaelan finds no traps on the gate and skillfully unlocks it.
Zephra looks back as they move to the gate. "Um, yes, it might be better to check the area for other enemies first. Once we know what is what, maybe we can come back to deal with their remains."
Satisfied with his skill, Gaelan unlocks the gate. "You know? Since that banshee was asking for a password, might it be that we have reached our destination of Renchurch? After all, that is where the Silver Ravens were headed. If so, this fortified room with a locked gate could be a good fall back position if we encounter troubles we cannot handle." Gaelan will slowly open the gate and take a look outside to determine if they are in an "old fortress-monastery", as Edjureus described Renchurch to them.
"I had similar thoughts. It's different than the last teleport destinations. For one, it's inside. And it is, aehm was, heavily guarded." Aja follows Gaelan.
You look outside and realize you are in a rusty tower in the SW corner of a massive walled ruined courtyard.
60' east of you, rancid brown sludge collects in a muddy cesspool like pus in an open wound. Thick, oily bubbles rise to the surface of the pond, releasing noxious fumes and the stench of decay.
120' north of you lie two ruined buildings. 300' past them, you see another ruined stone building.
However, your attention is drawn to the center of the courtyard (about 450' from your current location) where sits a massive cathedral perched on a scabby crust of crumbling rock, the black spines of its blood-soaked blades spearing into the stormy sky. The cathedral's bell tower rises four stories above the cathedral’s ground and is ringed with the cathedral’s characteristic blades.
The sense of evil is palpable in the air. This is definitely an unholy place.
Gaelan shakes off the unholiness around himself with a shudder. "Yeah, we're definitely in Renchurch, the Whispering Way's headquarters. Seems like the cathedral would be their base of operations and thus, the most fortified. Other buildings on the side may have reinforcements. And where are the guards patrolling the grounds? I am sure this place is not without its defenders/guardians. Where to first?"
Zed's eyes widen at the incoming attack, and he quickly activates a judgement to increase his resilience.
Although the increased resiliency was not needed, Zed knew the capabilities of a banshee's wail and was glad to have resisted it.
Sola nods at Zephra's wise words about taking in more of their surroundings before building any pyres. When Gaelan pokes his head out the door and begins describing what's around them, she looks for a way to reach the top of the tower from within.
There are no stairs (seems like any floors above ground were demolished when the prison was built), but yes, Solanis can fly up and there is a latch in the ceiling that allows access to the roof. The towers are 3 stories up so the bell tower is the highest point in the courtyard.
"If you're looking out through the hatch, be careful that noone spots you. We would want to keep the benefit of surprise as long as possible."
Gaelan casts See Invisibility on himself, having learned how Zed's spell saved the party last time. He then peeks outside and tries to look for any threats, visible and invisible, focusing on the roofs and towers of the cathedral.