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"An...infinite time loop?" Auntie Wu takes another deep swig from her gourd. She tries to remember if there have been any clues. Maybe inexplicable repetitions of a certain number? No... I don't know how we could get a message to the next time...
She shakes her head to clear it. "Look. Sigurd's right. It's do or repeat at this point. Maybe along the way we can figure out how to get a message to the next time loop in case we don't quite succeed. Give them--us--a running start. For now, let's finish cleansing this Monastery." She cracks her knuckles, then hiccups. Oop. Too much to drink. Welp. Hair of the dog! She chugs from her gourd of liquid courage again.
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"It's like trying to recall what I did last week." Sigurd keeps his shield raised. "I was probably fixing something. Or reciting the rites of Shizuru. But what, exactly, was I doing? The details are lost to the past."
The party head north. Or fake north, since they recently realized their entire world was fake. Whatever.
The air in this chamber feels humid and unusually warm. A row of four twenty-foot-long wooden planter boxes filled with earth sit in the middle of the room, each overgrown with diseased-looking weeds, damp-looking fungi, and glistening vines. A low table with moldy cushions around it sits to the east, near a small wooden door to the northeast; a statue of a stag covered with damp, diseased vines stands near this door.
There are also stairs in the northeast corner that lead downwards...
Sigurd keeps his Shield Raised as he approaches the statue. "A stag... is there religious significance here?"
He turns to his teammates. "What are these weeds? They don't look healthy. Be careful. We'll have to clean this statue, the weeds will have to go."
Placing one hand on Kazuki's shoulder, Auntie Wu wordlessly offers him her alcohol gourd. After taking a hearty swig of it herself, that is.
Kazuki guzzles almost the entire contents.
"Sorry, Auntie. I needed that." he says, wiping his chin. "No use worring about it now. Let's cleanse this place of its evil and try to get back home. There's got to be a way."----------------------
"Look," Kazuki points. "A statue. We need to cleanse it somehow. Do we just pull the vines off of it or consecrate it in some way?"
Lan will survey the plants on the statue. Any way to un-disease the growths?
A system of Desecrated Statues pervade the Monastery, corrupted by Kugaptee's influence. The party, seeking to further liberate the trapped ghost, Zhi Hui, combine their skills over spiritual, life, and matter essence, as well as masonry and trapbreaking...
➤ Level: 6 (Base DC 22)
➤ Complexity: 1 round, Aided Group Check (highest modifier to lowest DC is Lead)
➤ Timeframe: 30 minutes
➤ Synergies: a Focus spell with the Vitality trait adds it's Rank to the caster's check as a circumstance bonus; a Slotted spell with the Vitality trait adds it's Rank to the Leader's check as a circumstance bonus (even if they are not the caster)
➤ List of Skills: Religion (easy), Crafting (moderate), Nature (hard) or Thievery (hard)
It's not Erastil, if that is what you were thinking.
Just: Reverance for a Stag.
A moment in the room is all it takes - foul-smalling spores enter into the lungs of our party as they contemplate how to deal with the statue.
DC 20
Lan and Sigurd are stricken with a coughing, trouble-breathing sickness!
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Placing one hand on Kazuki's shoulder, Auntie Wu wordlessly offers him her alcohol gourd. After taking a hearty swig of it herself, that is.Kazuki guzzles almost the entire contents.
She shrugs. "Eh, no worries. It refills on its own." She takes another hearty swig and sets off into the next room, whereupon she almost immediately begins coughing. "Hack! Gak! Kukh! ... Whew! Got something stuck in my throat for a bit there. Lots of spores in here or something." Another swig from the gourd of never ending alcohol washes it down.
Approaching the statue of the stag, she turns thoughtful. "Hmm... Yes, there is a way to cleanse it. Let'sh get the slimy stuff off and then shtand around it." Was that a little slur at the end? Oh, well. She reaches for the diseased vines, stops just before touching them, then grabs her dagger to use so she doesn't get her hands all nasty. Her hands seem a little unsteady. Surely it's not the drink, right?
Once that task is done, she assembles everyone around the statue and instructs them to place a hand on it. Closing her eyes, she sways slightly, then casts Guidance on herself before beginning to pray in a standard call-and-response rhythm.
"To all the gods who value goodness: hear us...
To all the gods who abhor undead: hear us...
To all the gods who honor the natural flow of time: hear us...
Help us take this step to undermine Kugaptee...
Help us cleanse this statue of his influence...
Release the portion of spirit bound within...
To all the gods who hear and help us: Thank you for your aid...
We honor you...
We will continue to fight...
Until we succeed..."
By the end of the prayer, she's standing straighter, taller, all signs of drunkenness sloughed away.
Vekka figures there are members of the group with more religious expertise than he, so he begins cutting away vines from the statue with his katana.
Sigurd takes in a deep breath and quickly regrets it. "Once we are out of here, I will ask Shizuru for a >Sound Body<. Hopefully that will purge these spores from me."
"But for now... let us cleanse this state." Sigurd prays to Shizuru.
*cough, cough, hack, hack*!
"The air is very foul in here."
Drawing on the lessons he’s learned from Sigurd over the past few weeks, Kazuki lowers his head and begins to chant—a solemn hymn that trembles with conviction. His voice wavers at first, uncertain, but then steadies, growing stronger as he calls out to the gods.
I have to be careful of how the physical cleaning of the statue leaves room for the spiritual practices.
Lan fights through his sickness to Aid.