Alexa freezes as the other voice in her head speaks.
Then the eyes speak to her.
The heat in her limbs evaporates and sublimates into renewed trembling. Her heart starts to hammer in her chest and she flattens herself against the stone wall, starting to gasp for breath.
WHATWASTHATWHATWASTHATWHATWASTHAT?!
Her eyes dart about madly as she tries to think of what could have just contacted her--or, at least, to see where the voice really came from.
Alexa is quite smart enough to know what contacted her, even as she fears the answer.
Abyss.
Definitely Abyssal in origin. Has to have been an invisible demon. Succubus? Possible--still remember from old tower. Shouldn't be so far away from the party. This was stupid. This was extraordinarily stupid. Couldn't have been the Abyss itself--could it? What happened to this place?!
Alexa doesn't say another word, instead abandoning her scouting and returning to the rest of the party.
Now she looks like she's seen a ghost. She's doing an especially poor job of hiding it.
Perception to see if she sees that the aasimar is troubled.
It is quite obvious Alex is troubled. She seems REALLY affected by something. Even more than before.
She is looking over her shoulder at every moment. Her eyes look like she is in shock.
Telerin even notices her hands are shaking.
Darya looks up as she sees Alexa return, " That was quick, find anything?"
Her eyes narrow as she studies her more closely " You're.. you're shaking! 'Lexa what's wrong?" she asks, her hand reaching I've her shoulder to grasp the pommel of her sword.
Alexa leans against the wall, still gasping for breath.
" You're... you're shaking! 'Lexa what's wrong?"
The aasimar's eyes snap to the redheaded paladin, no longer maintaining even a pretense of composure.
"...it spoke. It spoke." Is all she can get out.
Arloric is already thinking of stanzas when he sees Alexa return to them. Seeing his normally stern and unflappable friend in such distress immediately clues him in that something's up, but he doesn't say anything, only offering her some support along with Darya. She'd say what she needed to say when she needed to say it. That was Alexa's way, and prying was never welcome. Just listening, and listening was what Arloric was best at.
"What Spoke?" Sario says drawing her scimitar and scanning the room.
"Seems we have found a store house to outfit us to charge into the world wound. There is a large ransom of Cold Iron weapons in here."
"Don't know. Some demon." Alexa responds, her shaking beginning to subside. "Doesn't look like it followed me."
Aberus notices the crowd gathering around Alexa--she wasn't there a minute ago, was she?--then the concern on their faces. As he dashes over to them, he hears her say "Some demon. Doesn't look like it followed me."
He stops short, and asks, "Where was this?" His grip tightens on the mace he found in the small armory.
"Just stepped outside." Alexa takes a deep breath. "...didn't sound like any demon I ever heard before."
She looks down at her feet. "Don't--don't wander off. I'll be... I'll be fine. Just give me a bit."
Hearing what the emberkin said the elf will concentrate on another detect magic to ensure nothing magical and unseen is afoot.
"I know you'll be fine, Dorne. You've never met a scrape you couldn't trick or fight your way out of," Arloric offers with a smile. "There's times I wish I had HALF the skill you've mastered."
Alexa takes a weary sigh and shakes her head. "...Arloric, if you only knew..."
"Listen, I'll be better able to explain what happened once we've finished clearing this place."
Hearing what the emberkin said the elf will concentrate on another detect magic to ensure nothing magical and unseen is afoot.
Telerin doesn't find anything out of the ordinary (for the time and place). She even peeks outside, carefully, and everything seems as expected.
Kelly takes her time looking through the armory, though nothing really caught her eye. Grand weapons. Glorious armor. Deep spiritual experiences. None of this was really for her. All she wanted was to help her friends and make the city safe again.
She eventually takes up a cold iron shortsword, similar in size and weight to the gladius she had gotten from the fallen crusader earlier. Holding them one in each hand felt natural, balanced.
Someday this would all be over, and everything would be quiet and simple again. She just had to hold on a little longer.
Kelly looks at Darya. A halo on her head. She looks like an angel.
Kelly looks at herself. She looks the same. Still short, still small. No halos or glowing or wings. The same.
Is that good?
Will she be able to return to Kenabres and be a simple cook again?
She looks at the swords she is carrying. They feel... natural.
As natural as her kitchen knife once felt.
Has she changed, but had she not noticed?
When she returns home... if home still exists, that is... and if she returns... will the others notice it?
Will she be able to drop the swords and grab the kitchen knife and feel "normal" again?
Alexa takes a weary sigh and shakes her head. "...Arloric, if you only knew..."
"Listen, I'll be better able to explain what happened once we've finished clearing this place."
"No sense in wasting time, then! Lead the way. I'll be right behind you!"
"Then lets finish clearing this place and hopefully riding this place of the Demon Hunting or Haunting you." Sario says
"We'll be right beside you, I promise. Nothing lurking here is going to get you on my watch." Darya says drawing her sword and taking up the brilliantly polished shield.
Uriel nods, lifting his own new shield. "Make that two of us." he nods to Darya "Shall I take point, Lady Darya?"
"Be my guest." Darya replies with a grin.
Identify wand
Identify crossbow bolts
Identify bracers
Identify cloak
Grinning back at the other aasimar, Uriel takes point.
Our brand new map...
You get out of the shrine and the fall back to reality feels like a punch in the guts. You hadn't realized how safe, how peaceful the shrine had become until you leave it. Outside, it is Kenabres after the fall again. You are in enemy territory.
And you don't feel safe anymore.
Especially Alexa. Even as she tries to hide it, she is much more alert and jumpy than ever before.
All of your characters look at the walls, expecting to see evil eyes there, but not finding anything.
But they fell watched.
Telerin tries to detect magic and has to suppress a scream. Everything... all around... an aura of evil. Concentrated and pure evil. It is faith and vanishing, but it wasn't there before.
You arrive at the bottom of the stairs and look up, into darkness and danger.
Perception.
Sario holds her scimitar tightly as they move out.
Alexa's eyes dart about, still on edge.
Still buoyed by the events of the shrine, Uriel is extremely perceptive.
Aberus follows, a little too nervous to pay close attention to his surroundings. What in the name of the gods is up there?
Arloric pulls off his eye-patch again, looking into the darkness with his black eye and reaching out with his senses to detect the living and the dead.
Staring into the darkness, Darya relaxes the fraction of concentration she usually exerts to restrain her halo, the golden ring of seemingly solid light once again manifesting over her head, pushing back the shadows as she stands ready to face what lies ahead.
Before they progress further, she will make sure that her mage armor is cast.
Before your characters go to the stairs you check the "backroom" of the chapel. It seems the Tiefling leader was camping there, and your characters find a fully equipped Alchemist lab there.
But more interesting is the contents of the plain-looking sword case, for inside can be found a +1 evil outsider bane longsword. A small note on a piece of parchment tucked into the case informs this weapon belonged to Irabeth until recently, when she sold it to a nobleman so she could afford a gift for her wife.
Lord Staunton,
I believe you will find the enclosed weapon to be a singular and familiar delight, for once it belonged to your old "friend" Irabeth. She sold it to Kandro Nyserian, of all people - I've no idea why. Kandro's been sitting on it for years - still would be, except his home got smashed by an ulkreth. Shame. He managed to save the sword and came here, begging for an escort north to Drezen, doubtless so he could give you the sword and weasel some cash to help him set up a new home. I hope you don't begrudge a creativity I took - our friend Nyserian serves now as a warm suit for a vermlek as punishing for only revealing the sword now instead of when he first acquired it. I suspect the blade will take to your brother's touch nicely!
Your Loyal Servant,
Othrubo
The silence is deep, and your character's ears very sensible.
On the second floor, on the north, there are constantly chattering and scraping sounds of something scraping on stone.
Southwest you hear buzzing. Too loud to be comfortable.
And on top, on the third floor: Heavy footsteps. Really heavy.
Your characters climb the stairs, as quietly as possible. At the top of the stairs, there is a wide, debris-littered hallway. It is empty. Several doors and turns can be seen.
Updated Map
Alexa peeks around a nearby corner.
Stacks of scrolls, books, maps, and more sit atop a large hexagonal table in this room. The walls are painted with detailed maps of Sarkoris, over which features of the Worldwound have been painted. There are more cultists here (at least 2, probably more).
"Irabeth's sword?!" Arloric exclaims when they find the blade. "We should return it to her as soon as we've won here. I doubt she'll begrudge us to slay some demons with it, and then she can take it up again and slay some more demons herself in turn!"
"It feels fitting to slay some demons with it indeed, bring it back to her with some more demonic blood on it for sure." Sario says with for Alexa to return.
The elf nods.
The more of these abominations that we can send back to the Abyss or is possible destroy for ever, the better off the multiverse will be. the elf replies.
Stacks of scrolls, books, maps, and more sit atop a large hexagonal table in this room. The walls are painted with detailed maps of Sarkoris, over which features of the Worldwound have been painted. There are more cultists here (at least 2, probably more).
Uriel stands out in the hallway, awaiting the go-ahead from Alexa.