Uriel looks around, Radiance held in front of him to fill the room with golden light.
There's no sign that the stables are occupied other than by yourselves. The discarded weapons catch your eye, though. Most of them are rusted junk from years of exposure, but you catch a few glints of metal that suggest a few have survived better than the others. A quick search through the pile turns up a masterwork battleaxe, a masterwork longsword, three cold iron daggers, and a cold iron longspear.
Before they move on Darya closes her eyes for a moment, focusing as a burst of divine warmth washes over the party, Alexa feeling the warmth of a crackling fireplace flowing through her as the worst of her wounds heal.
Alexa stretches as Darya's channelled energy relieves her pain.
"...thanks."
"Anytime!" she replies, flashing Alexa a warm smile.
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...she's quite beautiful when she smiles.
Alexa looks down and chases the thought away. You ought to know--remember the art session?
"If anyone doesn't have a cold iron weapon, you should take one." Uriel says, cleaning the dirt off of a dagger, before holding it out hilt-first in case anyone needs it. If no one claims it, he'll keep it. Never hurts to have a backup.
"Indeed, those daggers will be quite handy for the stabbier ones in our warband!" Arloric comments, beaming at Kelly and Alexa.
"My gladius is already made of cold iron." Alexa waves the offer off. "It'll be enough."
Telerin casts a quick spell and looks over the items. She says that both the longspear and the longsword radiate magic.
"What kind of magic, Tel?" Arloric asks.
"I've got my cold iron weapons here." Kelly replies, "But I'll certainly take a dagger, if no one else wants them."
"The spear's the true treasure of the lot: both cold iron and magical to boot. Nothing better for piercing a demon's hide. Even Tel could benefit from it, if only to keep demons at bay!"
Since they're not in high demand, Uriel sheathes one of the daggers on his belt.
"Side entrances first, work our way to the double doors?" Darya whispers in suggestion, leaving the final decision up to Alexa.
"I like that plan."
You quietly work your way back to the main building, and slip down the narrow courtyard where Alexa had been scouting.
Stained glass windows rise in narrow bands above the doors, several pieces of which have been broken out. From the outside, the building is reminiscent of a chapel, though one obviously long into decay. Alexa checks the doors quietly and sees no signs of traps. All three appear to be unlocked.
Alexa checks the door immediately next to her.
Sword and shield at the ready, Darya hangs back enough to let Alexa scout ahead, while close enough to immediately lend support if there were any more nasty surprises.
Alexa examines the heavy wooden door, confirming that it is neither trapped nor locked. She grabs the handle and turns it slowly and carefully and she feels very little resistance behind it, suggesting perhaps that someone has taken the time to keep the mechanism in working order. As the heavy door swings inward, it creaks and pops and light floods into the room revealing a large chapel deep into ruin.
Vaulted ceilings soar over 20 feet above a cracked and crumbling stone floor. Three large, wooden pews sit at the center, one lying askew, are lined up in front of a marble altar that's covered in grime and stains. Crumbling, winged statues adorn the corners of the room that you can see, and the walls
From inside, a voice calls out in common. "What have you brought for us today, Gordok?"
As the door opens, Alexa and Uriel see several heads turn to face them. They have pallid flesh stretched over impossibly thin frames giving the impression that they have starved nearly to death. Each of their eyes narrow and they smile evilly, revealing sharp teeth.
"Humans!" the closest one cries out. It's smile widens and it follows this up with, "Prey!"
"You are not predators, monsters!" Arloric calls to the ghouls. "You aren't even scavengers, who at least serve the cycles of nature flowing in rhythm! You are abominations, perversions of nature, and we shall destroy you so you may at least feed the soil!"
Alexa steps into the doorway, draws her shortbow and fires at the nearest ghoul.
The arrow sinks into the ghoul's head with surprising force!
Alexa's arrow slams into the ghoul's head, and it crumples to the ground. She catches a glimpse of two more ghouls at the far end of the chapel atop the altar, each wearing robes that are in surprisingly good condition for ravenous undead. The one on Alexa's right pulls out a scroll and starts to read from it in a raspy voice.
Two of the remaining ghouls rush around the pews and up towards Alexa while a third runs towards a set of double doors on the far wall and opens them.
Uriel dashes into the room, slides past Alexa, and shouts "Your blasphemous existence ends today" and delivers a mighty overhand blow as Radiance's blade is sheathed in flame.
+
Ghoul 6 swipes a claw at Uriel as he enters the chapel and squeezes past Alexa, but the pallid creature's arm bumps against the door frame and the paladin narrowly avoids receiving a nasty wound.
Radiance, in turn, comes crashing down on Ghoul 1. The blade cuts through its clavicle down to its ribs, and the fragile body breaks apart into flaming pieces that crumble to the ground.
Kelly slips into the room, ducking past the last ghoul by the door to stand over its fallen ally.
She slashes at the ghoul!
Taking a quick step forward, Darya tears into the ghoul facing off against Alexa.
Darya steps into the doorway beside Alexa and brings her longsword crashing down onto the last ghoul in the group. Despite the tight space, her first strike nearly cuts it in half, and the second finishes the first did not. The two halves of the lifeless body tumble to the ground, now piles of decaying flesh and bone.
The second robed ghoul pulls out a scroll and begins reading from it, nearly mirroring its companion. Another ghoul runs up from the pews and bites at Kelly.
It's ravenous jaws close on empty air.
"If anyone can stop whatever they're doing before they're finished. now would be a good time!!" Darya yells, her eyes flickering over to the scroll-bearing ghouls.
"Will as soon as I get in there!" Arloric yells back as he barges past her and the others to get into the room. Then he points at the scroll-wielding ghouls and blows a small trill on his horn as he tosses a small handful of ground mica in the air.
The sound of the horn seems to carry the dust like a breeze over to them and then it seems to burst into a whirlwind of glittering dust, getting in their eyes!
A burst of magical particles appears over the alter, expanding into a cloud that envelops the two ghouls, covering them and the alter in magical sparkliness. They easily shield their eyes, however, and continue reading their now-fashionable scrolls, unabated.
Arloric shouts a Hallit curse word as his spell fails.
Telerin steps up to the doorway, but with everyone jammed into the entrance and the statues restricting movement, she's stuck outside.
She waves her hands as she speaks a brief spell, and sends a small ball of acid towards the ghoul engaged with Kelly. It just barely hits, splashing it with acid.
From the now-open doorway to the east, two more ghouls rush in, one running between the pews and the other circling around to charge at Arloric. The ghoul at the front of chapel also races around the pews, headed along the wall towards Kelly and Alexa.
Alexa sets her sights on the ghoul attacking Kelly and drops her bow.
Time seems to slow down as she races towards it, drawing her gladius in one smooth motion and swinging it just as she reaches the undead creature!
Alexa zips around Kelly with amazing speed and grace, and slashes at the ghoul still smoldering from Telerin's acid. The first of the two strikes finds its mark; the ghoul is heavily wounded but still standing.
The ghoul at the doors to the east races through to another set of doors in the room beyond, then opens those.
Up front, one of the two robed ghouls finishes reading its scroll, and a horned, skeletal figure with slimy-leathery skin stretched around its frame appears behind the ghouls. It steps forward and stabs at Kelly with a longspear.
While the babau is advancing on Kelly, the robed ghoul gestures with a hand as it chants, obviously casting a spell.
Darya takes a step into the room, swinging at the ghoul in front of her. Her attacks are far from accurate as she catches sight of the summoned demon behind it, her blade flaring to life in the presence of an evil outsider.
Kelly focuses on the wounded ghoul.
As the demon appears, Uriel snarls and points at it with Radiance "Go back where you came from. Now!" With that, he hurdles Kelly and brings his golden sword down in a mighty overhanded strike.
+
Crit?
+
Kelly slashes out at the ghoul on her left and with one cut it collapses into a heap on the ground. She turns her next attacks to the ghoul on her right, the gladius leaving it reeling and the kukri neatly removing its head which tumbles to the floor as its body crumples.
Uriel charges through Kelly's space. The demon brings its longspear around to strike at its new target, but the heavily armored paladin ignores it as the weapon scrapes across his armor. The demon's eyes widen with surprise as Radiance, imbued with Holy fire, plows through its chest. You just have time to see the end of the sword sticking out of its back before it winks out of existence.
At the front of the chapel, the ghoul on the right roars in anger.
The ghoul on the left finishes reading its scroll, however, and a second demon appears, identical to the first. This one is at the north end of the chapel, and it advances on Alexa and Arloric with a ghoul at its side.
It stabs out at Arloric but the motion is clumsy and the spear bumps against the pew, jerking the demon hard and interrupting its attack before the spear can do any harm.
Arloric begins the song anew, and steps up to strike the foul creature.
Arloric brings his scimitar around to slice at the demon, but the blade glances off the tough, slimey hide.
With the bottleneck cleared, Telerin is able to enter the chapel. Seeing the summoned demon bearing down on the party, she gestures with her hand and casts a spell, bringing forth a protective barrier.
The two ghouls continue their advance on the party. One bears down on Arloric and lands a vicious bite. The other makes a beeline for Uriel
and attempts the same, but in its crazed state it's not able to connect.