Barok snarls when his arrow and Azira’s blade fail to fell the demon. Despite the crowding in the chamber he looses another arrow at the same target.
With her initial target finally bested, Azira moves to flank the demon that Elliot attacked and slashes at it.
As much as Merixia loves her bastard sword, it's not the ideal weapon for crowded spaces like this. It looks like Azira and Irabeth have the center demon sorted, so she takes a step to the side and slashes at the one who just tried (and failed, ha) to cast a spell. Or something of that sort.
"I appreciate the sentiment Jan as I've grown more accustomed to melee combat myself, but we have our orders and confining that many of us in a room could pose issues of it's own. Please continue to fire for the time being and be ready to engage should the other door be breached," Thesius says while taking aim at whichever demon in sight looks the worst off.
As Thesius clears from the doorway, Jan takes aim and fires once more upon his original target.
Barok shoots his bow again, but this time is significantly less lucky, as the press of combat between him and the demon lets the abrikandilu dodge out of the way of the arrow's path. Azira takes advantage of its momentary distraction and strikes again, Radiance blazing with power as she uses it to disembowel the wrecker demon, splattering herself, Irabeth, and Merixia with its foul gore. With that she swiftly moves to be ready to attack the other injured demon.
Elliot circles around, but he nearly stumbles on a broken bit of display, sending his blade far out of alignment and preventing him from landing a blow on his foe.
Thesius fires his shortbow at the same demon and Jan joins him at the other door, aiming the overlarge bow and firing. This time, the demon is unable to evade, and both arrows strike home, one slamming into its cheek and the other into its ribcage. It stumbles, fury burning in its eyes, but can't get any sound out other than a miserable and bloody cough.
Verene keeps her mirror in one hand, thrusting at the demon that remains close by to her. Even as she stabs it where the kidneys would be on a mortal humanoid, her dagger simply deflects off of its supernaturally tough skin, and it remains more focused on her mirror than on her.
Merixia sidesteps towards the uninjured demon, swinging her blade at it with vicious force. Unfortunately, it's heavy hide deflects her attack, and it growls in response, more annoyed than hurt.
Despite the infuriating presence of the mirror nearby, the badly wounded demon attacks Elliot, seeming to find him more threatening than his sister. In its frenzy, it manages to get a claw past his formidable defenses, but only just, and it barely manages to scratch his colorful skin.
With that, it slips around the magus into the corner of the room, apparently unwilling to risk being flanked.
Its surviving compatriot lashes out at Merixia, using its claws in the hopes of keeping her blade well away from its face. Despite its efforts, she is easily able to block and evade any injuries that its fouled talons might inflict.
Unfazed by its failure, the abrikandilu steps away from her, into the corner of the room - presumably aware as its fellow that it could be flanked.
Irabeth cries something in Orc, before rushing towards the uninjured demon, her blade glowing with the silver light of the Inheritor's might. The sword burns as she carves deep into the abrikandilu's flesh, tearing through its defenses and searing away any foul viscera that might have otherwise covered her.
Verene shouts in Abyssal and throws her dagger just to get the attention of the abrikandilu facing off against Merixia and Irabeth; if it looks over it is confronted by its own reflection from the mirror in her other hand. She steps forward toward the cornered and grievously wounded demon Azira and Elliot have been fighting to brandish the mirror at it as well.
Varel hustles into the room with surprising lightness for his size and aims a shot at any demon that is still alive and looks most injured.
”Barok, it’s too crowded in here now,” the graceful aasimar calls out, “please switch your attention to watching our back in case anyone tries to join the fight from behind.” With a new awareness of these demons’ toughness, Azira calls on her recently mastered sense of panache to unleash a particularly precise slash at the flanked fiend.
Barok turns around and prepares to fire at the door if any new enemies arrive.
Merixia scowls at the demon, pressing forward alongside Irabeth. Fury threatens to rise up and overtake her. Focus. Use the anger, don't let it use you. She takes a deep breath, using the moment to watch how the demon moves, and strikes out at the enemy once more.
Lorn has given up on trying to hit anything through the narrow door. She decides to turn around and watch the group's back in case reinforcements show up.
"Jan, please take a shot if you get a clear one. I will help watch the door," Thesius states while drawing out his morningstar and readying an attack should an enemy present itself. He trusted in his companions.
Jan prepares to take a shot on any enemy that presents itself.
Elliot grimaces as the fiend got him despite all his defenses. Fortunately, his allies more than made up for it. If all he had to do was keep its attention while the rest killed the other enemies one by one, then so be it.
Azira moves forwards again, Radiance biting unerringly at the abrikandilu. The golden blade catches the demon's throat and tears easily through it - now prepared for the blood, she whirls out of the way, letting it fall to the ground nearby. Meanwhile, Barok turns, ready to shoot anyone - or anything - that comes through the other door.
Elliot, left without a target, hops quickly to the other side of the room, slashing with Righteous Eclipse. The demon is wrong-footed and backed into the corner, and his dark sword's blade carves deep into its hide, rotting its flesh as he pulls away.
Like Barok, Thesius and Jan prepare to attack should anyone pass through the doorway.
Verene tosses her tiny knife at the remaining demon, catching it in the eye - but once again, its plain metal deflects off of the demon's supernatural resistance to such weapons. Varel rushes forwards, half-turning and firing his bow. The arrow streaks past Irabeth's head and slams into the demon's forehead, dropping it dead immediately.
Irabeth looks around, her expression hard. "Those poor soldiers..." She says, looking at the headless corpses on the floor. Nearby, in one of the corners, is a morningstar made from a dark, unfamiliar metal.
The paladin looks around at her fellows. "Is anyone hurt? I can heal some injuries, if you need it."
"Good shot, Varel. Well done, everyone." Verene puts away the mirror, collects her dagger, and readjusts her crossbow. The odd but finely made weapon on the floor looks completely undamaged, unlike everything else in the room, so she stops to cast detect magic and examine it with her arcane senses for about twenty seconds.
"This morningstar is similar to yours in its enchantment, Thesius. What an odd metal. Very heavy."
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Upon hearing his name, Thesius asks for Jan to help watch over the door. Upon entering the room, he recognizes the metal for what it is.
"That's quite the weapon...it's composed of adamantine. While not as effective as cold iron against demons, it's definitely useful when breaking through items. It's definitely an upgrade from what I'm currently using, but if someone else can make better use of it I won't stop them from it."
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Azira wipes the demonblood from Radiance’s blade and then takes a deep breath before daring to check the bodies for any sign of her mother.
she won’t be here… she wouldn’t have retreated from the square, not while Terenedelev was fighting… if she outlived the wyrm maybe she might have led some survivors to safety… somehow the idea that she might have escaped from the square only to die here feels even worse…
”We can lay them out with some dignity after our mission is completed,” she says as reassuringly as she can to the commander as she finishes her search. Then calling to Barok she says, “I mean you no dishonor but you have proven your great skill with a bow and my commander, whose skill is in the sword, does not have a weapon that will hurt demons so well as your arrows nor the sword I asked you to carry into battle… if you’d be so gracious, I would like to ask her to carry it instead?”
once she has received her cold-iron longsword back, Azira offers it to Irabeth saying, “ma’am, this is the sword I fought with until I was entrusted with Radiance; it was given to me by my parents. I would be honored if you would wield it while we finish this mission.”
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Aww, everyone else got to the demons before Merixia could land a hit. Darn. I'd better stop hoarding my enhancement spells if I'm going to keep up. She looks up at Irabeth and shakes her head. "Thanks for the offer, but I'm fine."
"That's quite the weapon...it's composed of adamantine. While not as effective as cold iron against demons, it's definitely useful when breaking through items. It's definitely an upgrade from what I'm currently using, but if someone else can make better use of it I won't stop them from it."
"As far as I'm concerned, it's yours, Thesius. Although one of us swordfighting types should probably take your old morningstar as a backup weapon in case we encounter an enemy resistant to edged weapons." Adamantine will come in handy if they need to bash down a door or something. And Thesius has the align weapon scale in case of demons.
Verene raises her eyebrows, impressed. "So this is the fabled adamantine. I have never seen any in person, only read about it. It seems fitting you should carry it, Thesius. Although if it doesn't overcome the demonic resistance to weapons, perhaps you should make use of Terendelev's gift to align it to good temporarily. We might well meet with more of them shortly. I was going to suggest its use for Lady Irabeth, but it seems Azira has solved that problem." She indicates the two paladins' conversation with an unconscious flick of her tail. "The problem of giving these two poor souls a decent send-off, however, may have to wait, like the vermleks' victims. I suppose we could quickly take them outside to await the end of our work here."
Steeling herself, she looks for the two corpses' heads to at least return them to their proper positions, no matter what is decided about leaving or taking away the bodies.
"Perhaps we could take the bodies to the shrine dedicated to Iomedae," Elliot suggests. "I want to give them a proper burial as well, but we do have to make the most of the time our enhacements are active. Although... perhaps a few words of the departed wouldn't be amiss?" He looks at Azira, Irabeth and Merixia as presumable the most religiously inclined figures present.
"Also, that is an awesome find. A weapon made of the strongest metal out there, and on a mace... even if they threw up some sort of barricade around the artefact, we just might be able to smash through with this."
He looks around. "Well... 'we' as in Commander Iratbeth and Merixia, probably. Or Thesius. Or the Children with us."
"In short, basically everyone except me, Azira and Verene. Maybe I should start taking those strength drills a bit more seriously..." He thinks, sheepishly.
Barok nods briefly at Azira. "Of course. It would be my honor to offer this weapon to a paladin of Iomedae."
Irabeth looks briefly uncomfortable, but nods, a genuine smile briefly gracing her lips. "Thank you, Azira." She takes the cold iron blade, turning it in her hands briefly. "A bit lighter than my usual one, but it shouldn't take much adjustment."
"Yeah, I think that would be best. We should bring them back with us when we return to the Defender's Heart... or else the vermleks might try to take them, wherever we bury them." Irabeth grimaces. "In the meantime, we can move them back into the area with the shrine... though I think there's an actual chapel here, we don't have too much time."
With that decided, the heroes bring the headless corpses back into the small ruined shrine, laying them out as respectfully as they can under the circumstances. Thesius takes a quick scan of the unopened door to the north . He finds no traps, nor does he hear any signs of any occupants.
Unless someone else speaks up, Thesius will hand the +1 morningstar he had been wielding over to Jan to make use of for the time being. It made sense to have everyone as ready as possible.
Finally he'll take up the +1 adamantine morningstar to replace the one he had been wielding. Holstering it since they wanted him acting as a ranged combatant currently.
After having checked the door, he will step back into position and take a moment to cast Heightened Awareness upon himself before finally drawing out his shortbow once more and readying himself.
Alter Self (half-orc) - Loses Keen Senses and Low-Light Vision, Gains Darkvision and +2 Strength
Heightened Awareness - +2 Morale on Attack, Saves, and Skill Checks
Heroism - +2 Competence on all Knowledge and Perception Checks
Verene has raised her fiend-detecting cantrip again while Thesius examines the door, and if she finds nothing, looks to the deadlier weapon-users to open the it; if no one moves, she tries opening it herself.
Merixia looks at Thesius and Verene. "Either of you hear anything, or detect anything?" She's happy to be the door opener, but it would be nice to have some idea of what's on the other side.
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Neither Verene nor Azira detect any signs of demonic or evil presence beyond the door, and it is yet unlocked. With everyone prepared, Irabeth opens the door. Inside is a largely empty room, with one door to the west and one to the north . Though it is empty of furniture, its walls are scrawled with rude words in Abyssal - not fully blasphemous or insulting, just curses about the crusaders.
The whole party except Elliot hears something behind the door to the north - a soft shuffling of feet.
Irabeth looks around the room, her brows furrowed. "It has been some time since I came here... but I honestly don't recall what this room was used for."
"Demonic presence," Verene whispers through the message spell, indicating the northern door. "Make your preparations accordingly while I take a few moments to learn more. Then same procedure as before? Maybe this was a staging area or art gallery where the art has now been removed, Lady Irabeth."
She concentrates on the unsettling, nails-on-chalkboard feeling of the fiendish aura for about ten seconds, reporting everything she learns to her companions in a whisper so as not to alert whatever is on the other side of the door.
"Well, whatever this place was once for, it will now be used to send demons back to the abyss," Elliot responds in whispered message, then repeats the process of casting from the wand and taking place near the front. Fortunately, the wound sustained in the last fight really was minor and seemed to not impact his fighting ability much, if at all.
"I can hear that both doors hold some kind of beast beyond them. There is a shuffling from the western doorway and muttering from the door straight ahead . We should be ready as I have a feeling we will encounter resistance from both shortly after interacting with one," he says while tilting his head to listen closely.
"I will move forward with the frontline to check the doors should they remain closed by the time we get to them."
Azira scowls at the revelation that there are dangers behind both doors. "Thank you, Thesius, that could have been bad," she answers quietly. "I'll block the door on the left so nothing can flood into the room, the rest of you can focus on what's behind the door straight ahead until that's managed and then switch focus to help me."
The paladin positions herself in front of the door to the left and readies Radiance to strike anything that may try to emerge, and waits while the others open the door straight ahead.
Irabeth frowns, her yellow eyes narrowing, but nods at Verene's words.
Once everyone has filed into the room with no sign of any aggressors, Thesius examines the doors. Though neither is trapped, the western one is firmly locked, and if the archeologist is any judge, barred. It won't be easy unlocking that one. It is, however, not invincible, and the heroes might be able to break it down. The second door is unlocked, but he does still hear the soft shuffle of boots behind it.
The Children ready their bows, looking from one door to the other.
"At least two auras, both moderate strength. That could be demons, but it would have to be very strong ones. It is more likely to be the cultist servants of demon lords we have encountered before — even a minor amount of their master's presence rubs off on them and is stronger than a dretch or abrikandilu. So wait a moment, Elliot," Verene whispers when she sees him about to apply the wand of shield. "The wall is partly blocking my senses. Let me stand a bit closer and see if I can sense anything further. Then I will back up and let someone else open the door."
She approaches the door directly and concentrates again, hoping to perceive more. Once she has reported anything she finds, she returns to her former position behind Merixia, and exactly before everyone is ready to proceed, she will use a charge of the wand of shield for herself as well.
Merixia nods to Azira, moving toward the north door. "Let me know if you sense anything else, Verene. I can be the door opener again." Although this time she's going to be better prepared. The cleric utters a quiet spell, and strength surges through her body.
"The one door appears to be barred from the other side. It would be good to keep it in mind, but I think dealing with what lies beyond the other door is more important at this point in time. Should we need to, I may be able to open the barred door with a bit of luck."
Thesius readies himself for the battle that likely awaits beyond the door.
Verene reports that there is, in fact, another aura behind the door, to the west from the door.
Irabeth's eyes glow silver for a moment as she stares at the door. "There's at least one other directly behind the door." She says softly. "Probably not a demon or a priest, though, since Verene cannot detect it."
Once everyone is prepared , Merixia opens the door.
As soon as the door opens, a projectile hurtles through the air towards her. It erupts in a fiery explosion, tearing through her companions and searing their flesh. Fire flares around her, swirling and burning at even her resistant flesh.
The fire fades quickly, revealing that there are three cultists holding scythes, and a horned tiefling with a knife in one hand, and wearing red leather armor. His outline blurs and flickers strangely, and his skin has an odd texture. Two of the cultists look quite badly burned by the fire, but they scream their attack regardless.
Seizing the opportunity to move while her enemies appear unprepared to exploit the exposure, Azira darts into the chamber and to her left, far enough to leave room for her comrades. Once next to the cultist positioned there, she brings Radiance whistling through the air at them.
She does not understand what the premonition was trying to warn her about until it is too late. The tiefling in the corner does not seem to be a cultist at all; instead he is some kind of bomb-thrower, and the whoosh of flame from the first incendiary as it catches Merixia and sets her afire billows outward and scorches her right on her sensitive nose. Verene opens her mouth, but what emerges is not a cry but a loud hiss of pain.
A split second of premonition, again and stronger: a warning of pain to come. Hold steady. After a split second of hesitation to readjust her plans — this room is too small to use the sticky web effectively while still allowing her friends to fight — she darts around Merixia and into the room past where Azira is slashing at another cultist, intently focused on the tiefling whose form blurs and flickers. Still holding her crossbow in one hand, her free arm stretches back; her mouth shapes the word carefully, ready to unleash a sticky ball of mud right at his eyes. She must not let him throw another explosive at their group; most of them are not resistant to fire, as Merixia is.
Varel, out in the empty room, moves into Verene's former position and looses a shot at the human cultist just five feet behind the door from over Merixia's still-flaming shoulder.
Elliot coughs at the smoke and singing sensation of the fire washing over him. Blinking, he sees the cultists recovering from the same attack and the one responsible hiding in the back. Not wanting to waste this chance, he darts forward and attempts to strike at the tiefling!
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Elliot moves forwards to attack the tiefling, slashing with Righteous Eclipse. A shimmering shield of translucent magical force blocks Elliot's attack, and the tiefling hisses at him in turn. "A little far north, aren't you?"
Verene readies herself to hurl a spell if the tiefling prepares another bomb, even as she looks into the future, readying herself for what might come. Meanwhile, Varel fires his bow at the poor fool standing before Merixia. His arrow streaks out and catches the cultist in the chest, sending him staggering briefly back.
Azira moves in, swerving around her companions and foes before striking out with her golden blade. Unfortunately, the cultist's armor catches her sword just enough to prevent it from giving him more than a heavy bruise.
In response, the cultist circles around her, chanting a quick incantation and slapping out at Azira, his hand wreathed in foul energy. The paladin is more than prepared, though, and slaps his hand away with her sword. It tears through a gap in her armor, and she feels its pure malice burning her flesh - even the infernal in her finds it offensive.
Another cultist chants a sharp word, and a ward shudders into place around him. Gripping his scythe, whose head glows a foul purple, he steps into Merixia's way, slashing with the weapon.
The remaining cultist shakes himself out of his stupor, looking somewhat baffled for a moment.
The tiefling frowns, before half-turning and tossing another bomb in the direction of the other heroes. Fortunately, Verene is ready, and hurls the mud ball into his eyes, blinding him. Further, his retrieval and throw of his bomb opens him to Elliot's own strike. The blade cuts past the magical shield and into his oddly rough skin. The tiefling staggers, but the bomb has already been thrown. The tiefling staggers away, out of the magus' range.
The bomb arcs up over Merixia's head, but goes slightly off, crashing and exploding near the door, shaking it in its hinges and sending fire spraying around. Though most of the Children, as well as the two heroes, are able to get out of the way, Irabeth is not so lucky, and takes the full force of the bomb to her torso.
The half-orc paladin gasps in pain, before clapping a hand to her chest. Immediately, her wounds vanish, and she steps forwards, striking at the cultist standing in the doorway. Her borrowed longsword snakes out between Merixia's burning form and the doorframe, slicing deep into the cultist's stomach and nearly disemboweling him. He shrieks in agony, staggering back, but grips his weapon tightly, his expression hardening.
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Well, it's a good thing I went through first. The firebomb stings a bit, and now her good coat is on fire, but it doesn't hurt that much. Azira and Elliot dodge around her to get into the room, blades flashing, but can't quite get through their opponents' defenses. Merixia takes a few seconds to try and extinguish her burning clothing.
That was a mistake. A cultist with a scythe swings, Merixia brings her buckler up... just a little too late. Pain explodes in her belly as the scythe manages to slip between armor plates. She lets out a breathless half-scream of pain, but manages to stay on her feet through sheer will. The cleric staggers back a few feet, trying to stem the flow of blood with her off hand while her tail retrieves a scroll from a coat pocket. A flick of said tail opens the scroll for her to read the holy words.
Behind her, Lorn aims a standard steel arrow at the scythe-wielding cultist and fires.
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Jan fires upon the enemy blocking the doorway
After which Thesius wades in to shore up the doorway, his shortbow clattering as it hits the floor and the newly acquired adamantine morningstar coming out as he closes the distance. A prayer in his heart, he lashes out at his enemy .
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Jan shakes off the lingering brightness of the blaze and takes the chance to fire his bow through the doorway, and catches him in the throat. He gurgles helplessly before collapsing in a heap.
Thesius moves in, stepping past Merixia and over the fallen cultist to strike hard and fast with his newfound morningstar. The cultist is unable to get his guard up in time, and the half-elf cracks him over the head, dropping him to the floor to bleed out as well.
Merixia swiftly pats herself out, extinguishing the fire with ease, before stepping away from the doorway and pulling out a scroll to heal herself. What few burns she had fade away and the grievous wound heals almost completely, though it still oozes blood.
Jan, left without a target, aims and fires in the general direction of the tiefling. However, his blurred form and the cover between them sends the arrow into the doorframe above instead of their foe.
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Elliot's heart skips s beat when he sees Merixia getting hit quite badly, but as he probably should have expected, she bounced right back.
A shimmering shield of translucent magical force blocks Elliot's attack, and the tiefling hisses at him in turn. "A little far north, aren't you?"
"Better that than to have to experience things going south. Which they seem to, for you. Your ambush failed and your friends are bleeding on the floor. Might be your last chance to rethink your life choices and surrender," he says, refocusing on the fight.
Elliot says, as he darts around the bomber past Verene, to flank with Azira.
Meanwhile, Hedge either assists in ending the remaining cultist, shouls there be one. If not, she moves into the room to shoot the alchemist (?) From a distance.
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Verene watches with a flicker of satisfaction as her gambit appears to work and the blinded tiefling's bomb goes off-target, only to gasp in horror as its impact against the door seems to destabilize it and cause it to explode over her allies' heads anyway. She quickly realizes that Varel is much less seriously injured than he might have been if their enemy was not blinded and that had been a direct hit like the one Merixia endured, but this is still not an ideal state of affairs.
"Shockingly, opening by bombing his own allies doesn't seem to have worked out very well for him," she observes. "He might at least have told the second two to stay more than ten feet away from the door."
With the tiefling hopefully distracted by this sally, Verene whispers to the group via message, "Everyone except Varel, I recommend keeping that tiefling in the corner and hitting him with everything you have while he is blinded. Even blind, he is far more dangerous than the last cultist. He may miss specific people, but the sheer size of his explosions means he can hurt almost all of us a little bit with each one. And he might be able to shake or wipe off the mud soon. Varel, please help me with this one."
The stolid First Child blinks his pupilless eyes to free them of the bright afterimages of the last explosion, and slips into the room past the bodies of the first two cultists to aim an arrow at the hated human demon-worshiper. It leaps from his bow like divine vengeance.
Azira nods at Verene's whispered advice, then she tumbles away from the final cultist. When she reaches the blinded tiefling, she slashes at it with Radiance's glowing golden blade.
Varel hastily makes his way into the room as Verene requests, firing his bow at the last surviving human cultist. The arrow takes him in the throat, knocking him off his feet and onto the befouled floor, bleeding out.
Verene is about to unleash her wand at the tiefling when she recalls the shield of force that her brother had struggled with earlier.
Elliot strikes at the tiefling, his blow managing to slip through all the various defenses that the horned man has set up. Righteous Eclipse cuts into his flesh, its necrotic magic finally discharging completely. He growls in pain, but hisses it away with a scowl. "The Lord will come and his swarms devour you all!" He cries.
Azira rushes forwards, slashing with Radiance, but the manifold defenses that the tiefling has set up foils her efforts, as the blade deflects off of his hardened skin.
With a quick swipe of his hand, the tiefling clears the mud from his eyes. He pulls out another bomb, allowing both Azira and Elliot a chance to strike as his guard is momentarily down. The paladin's quick hands and powerful blade thrust out, catching him in the heart, and he topples to the ground, blood erupting out of the wound.
Irabeth lowers her bloodstained sword, her face tight. "Is anyone seriously injured? We have healing available." She surveys the party's wounds. "Merixia, would you rather I healed everyone, or are you able to do so?"
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Remembering the way Elliot's blade had earlier glanced off an invisible shield that became visible for a moment, Verene holds off on spending a charge from the wand of magic missile that she knows will only be blocked, and instead lifts her crossbow with both hands and squeezes the trigger while she has a clear shot, before Elliot or Azira can pursue the tiefling into the corner.
Verene trusts the First Children and the others to rifle the gear of the slain for anything small and useful — she sees Varel already bending to do so with the final cultist — and Thesius to detect for magic, as she has been doing for fiends. With a gesture and word she puts up her fiend-detection cantrip and follows any directions Merixia or Irabeth have for them about moving so that the healing energy will help them but none of the fallen enemies; at the same time, she opens her senses to the presence of demonic auras through first the closed door in the previous room, then the closed door next to the body of the tiefling bomber. While standing next to him, she also retrieves her durable bolt with a sharp jerk, cleans it and returns it to her crossbow.
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Well, that was a waste of a strength spell. Merixia sighs quietly, resisting the urge to run a hand through her hair. Last time she snagged quite a few strands in her new gauntlets. "I can heal everyone without a problem, don't worry. I have a wand for when I run out of channeling."
She turns to Verene and gives her a reassuring smile. "It takes hotter fire than that to really hurt me! The first one stung a little, but I didn't feel the second firebomb at all. Sometimes infernal blood comes in handy. And really, Verene, don't blame yourself for what our enemies do. There's a reason I'm wearing heavy armor." Honestly. Merixia is a crusader, she traveled across an entire continent in order to fight demons. That involves getting injured on a regular basis. Maybe it's the fact that Verene is a diviner, she might feel like she has to predict and prevent everything their enemies can do. Which is silly, but people are often irrational. I'll talk to her about that later on when we have some privacy.
"Okay, everyone, gather round. It's healing time." Once everyone is within range of Merixia's channeling, she raises her holy symbol. "Ragathiel, grant me your healing light!"
Thesius will make sure to move within range of Merixia's channel before she uses it, feeling fully restored after. "Thank you, I believe I have no more wounds after that."
Finally, he will take the time to look over the room with Detect Magic, pointing out potential items and points of interest. His attention eventually falling upon the door to the east which he will take the time to look over for traps and to see if it is locked.
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After the healing wave washes over the heroes and their companions, Barok waves away Verene's apologies. "Such is the nature of battle, lady. Worry not over our injuries - especially as they have been healed."
The cultists each have a scroll - which Thesius quickly reads as scrolls of divine favor, magic weapon, and opportunistic loyalty. He also marks that each of them has a potion of healing . More interestingly, the tiefling has many more potions - six of them, in fact, and both his armor and his ring are magical.
With the fight over, the heroes now have a chance to survey their surroundings. Blood and filth smear floor of this long room. Six white stone statues of famous heroes line the hall-each clawed, bloodstained, partially smashed, or otherwise defaced. At the far end of the hall, a raised dais holds an upturned alabaster altar. Sitting atop the upside-down altar is a hideous mass of severed limbs that have been stitched together into a vile monstrous insectoid shape. Before the dais, seven ratty bedrolls have been laid out on the floor.
Irabeth looks around sadly. "This is - or was - the Temple of Iomedae in the Garrison. Must've been."
Thesius does not find any traps on the door to the east - and indeed, it isn't locked. Indeed, it hangs slightly open, revealing what appears to be a bedroom through the crack.
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While Thesius and Verene work at gathering and identifying the potions, scrolls, and other useful items, Azira walks up on to the dais and frowns. “They certainly were thorough in desecrating every altar and shrine they could find,” she remarks sadly. Using one of the bedrolls from the floor, she wraps up the grotesque idol of limbs and sets it near the door they entered through and has Barok help her turn the altar right side up. Then, drawing another vial of holy water from her backpack she quietly asks, “Thesius, I know your skills are in high demand right now, and of course we need to move quickly, but could you spare a moment for just a little bit more cleaning magic? I know we don’t have time for the whole chapel, but even just the dais area would make a huge difference…”
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Thesius quickly relays his findings to the group as he comes across them, giving quick explanations of what each is, pointing out the secret door and his current lack of knowledge of what opens it, and the fact they have another room open to them.
"A bedroom seems to lie beyond the door and I'm not noting any traps about the door. We may want to sweep it first and check to see if it has a way to open the door."
Thesius will fall back into formation so the frontline can take their place if they so choose.
"Jan please retrieve my shortbow for me if you would be so kind. Your shooting capabilities by far trump my own."
Upon hearing Azira's request, he turns his attention to the dias. Moving back to it, he takes time to invoke his cantrip again to help put his friend's mind at ease. His eyes looking over it to see if it might be the key to opening the secret door.
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Merixia's healing pulls Elliot form his awed stare at how Azira had just completely destroyed the heavily protected foe with just one swing. Mercyfully, his wounds, limited as they were as yet, vanished. "Thanks, Meri. Much appreciated." He says, and cleans his scimitar on the alchemist's corpse - before remembering he was stabbed in the heart and that it came back a lot more bloody. He sighs, and goes about helping Thesius cleaning out the shrine a bit, even if without magic it didn't compare to the bard's rate.
When the strange outline of a potential hidden door is mentioned, Elliot frowns. "Perhaps the incantation from the other room would work here?" He wonders, and tries repeating the line of 'Let us inherit thine arms, Iomedae,' in both common and celestial once the shrine here was decently clean.
"Innate fire resistance is a useful trait, to be sure. And of course, the important thing is that everyone is all right now. Thanks to you, Merixia," Verene replies to the cleric and Barok, as the itchy, tight, painful feeling under her scales vanishes with the wave of red-gold light rushing through her. She tries to give the small smile she would in her normal form, but her inflexible snout hardly shows the movement. "I don't detect any fiendish presence through either of these doors , so I'll share in the work of identifying these items, Thesius."
Verene at least is acutely aware that Merixia's borrowed strength is temporary. To save the group time, she casts the magic detection cantrip herself and the two scholars split the task of examining the little pile of objects' magic auras between them while Azira and the Children, then Thesius do what they can to quickly set the small temple to rights.
"If you're going to keep opening doors for us, Merixia, perhaps you should wear this protective ring." Verene offers it to her, along with most of the scrolls and the leather armor.
"A bedroom seems to lie beyond the door and I'm not noting any traps about the door. We may want to sweep it first and check to see if it has a way to open the door."
"On it." With Elliot, Azira and Thesius busy near the altar on the other side of the room, Verene pokes her snout into the open door of the makeshift bedroom and looks around for anything useful or interesting. "Thamyris, my dear, I could use your help looking around in here."
The thrush pops into being at the top of her horns, perches there and looks about himself curiously, alert as ever for threats or interesting finds. Verene re-casts the magic detection cantrip for a scan and also looks about herself with her spell-heightened senses.