Into The Temple - Part 4

Log Info

• Title: Into The Temple - Part 4
  
• GM: Whirlpool
• Characters: Rune, Harkashan, Eztli, Bryn, Silmeria
  
• Location: Felwood
  
• Summary: The lost temple of Eluna stands revealed, its grounds consecreated, and the the exterior secured. Now all that's left is to begin its exploration.

Pitter patter goes the slime. Once, perhaps, it would have been a proper rain, but now it's merely drips... until you hear that wet squishing sound, like feet slapping against the stone floor. It's coming closer, slowly building speed. Whatever it is probably very large and very heavy, or perhaps the echoes are magnifying the size of what it sounds like. Either way, you have some choices too make.

"Alright, we've got one way to go. Obviously, there appears to be a slime creature approaching from there. Coming from above, slime that will dissolve at least our equipment - if not us. We've got a bit of time to try and get the doors open..." Harkashan offers, glancing at the puzzle. "Or correct the puzzle." Before turning back to the hall from which sounds come. "But the straightest path lies before us."

Eztli was covered in unpleasant goop, and clearly unhappy, the small makari hurriedly pulling at their robes before they stop, and sigh. "Real glad I retired my robes for replacements in these sleeves." Eztli snorts loudly. "Doesn't make it pleasant though, or less smelly and, crap, that's getting closer, isn't it? Very least we can maybe try to block where it's coming from?"

The sound in the distance has one of Rune's ears twitching as she looks at their options. "I'd prefer to try to figure out the puzzle, but I'll be honest enough to say that I'm not certain the next steps. So if anyone has an idea, now's the time to speak up." The rogue murmurs, stepping back a bit, brows furrowing, "I'm not so interested in getting my equipment trashed. No offense, priestess, but I doubt your folk are paying well enough to cover the sort of gear some of us carry." She motions at Harkashan's enchanted plate-armor, as an example.

"Think the temple's gotta leak," Bryn points out after the first couple spatters. Then she wipes off a fingerful of the ... goo. "Eh... or somethin..." She looks up. "Can dragons catch colds...? Hope that ain't what it is, or they ain't gotta sneeze..." Then she turns her head and eye towards Harkashan.

Slime from above. Squish from beyond. And a ticking clock on their decisions. "...Personally I still think we should solve the puzzle," Silmeria muses, gloved fingers tracing a sigil in the air. "If for no other reason, than it seems to be a defense *against* demonic incursion. Thus if we were demons, we wouldn't try. Hold still a moment, mistress Eztli."

Silmeria completes the sigil, and--

*FWORSH*

Eleven gallons of water, slightly dispersed, rain down over Eztli and all in her vicinity, briefly; enough to wash off the slime.

GAME: Silmeria casts Create Water. Caster Level: 11 DC: 13

"That said," the Speaker muses, Perhaps it's that we haven't *finished* our guess. If one of you would be kind enough to jump on the crescent panel? It's a Temple, not a deathtrap, so the worst thing that can happen is something vaguely unpleasant -- probably attenuated by age, given the slime -- and we have to try again."

With that, she hops onto the half-full panel, looking for all the world like she wished she had an umbrella with her.

A Gentleman Adventurer *should* have a parasol, after all.

"I don't know, I've been to my fair share of Temples and ruins that are death-traps, even if they weren't originally intended to be." Rune quips in reply, shaking her head, "As for this one, the anti-demonic defenses make it a little rougher than giving the gods a visit in Alexandria." With Slimeria giving the suggestion, Rune steps back slightly, shifting herself more towards the source of the sound rather than the symbols on the floor.

"I'll watch the door, just incase whatever that is decides it's coming through." So, the rogue decides to play 'guardian' and leave arranging the puzzle to the others, for now.

"Only seen one demon," Bryna offers. "Sort of. Don' really wanna see more, so if'n this'll keep 'em out..." She moves on over to the last floor panel and hops up on it. Then hops in place once. Just in case. Could be old and crusty, afterall.

Eztli is left soaking wet suddenyl, but by the grin they had, they weren't particularly bothers. "Thanks! That feels load better." The makari laughs, shakling off the water and flapping their wings. "NNot sure what else is there, but maybe keep going? If we need to press a button, I nominate Harkashan, he's bigger and stronger than me, I might not be heavy enough to press the button down." They suggest. "And of course dragons sneeze, why wouldn't they?"

Harkashan, as Eztli mentions him being heavier, saunters over to one of the buttons. "Hey..." He rumbles. But it's true, he's a heavy boy. Especially with all that armor.

As the other cycles of the moon depress with Silmeria's guesswork being followed, you hear a loud, grinding series of clanks again as the room prepares tto rotate a second time -- and not a moment too soon. Just as soon as it starts, you see something emerging from the shadows of the passage you oopened. It's moving far slower than the sounds it made would've anticipated, tendrils of green mold and slime hitting the ground in an awkward, out of rhythym way. It reaches the doorway just as it begins to seal off, reaching a large, mold and slime covered arm out into the room just as the rotation starts. With a sickening crunch, it is severed at the elbow, left on the ground twitching and writhing on its own accord. Hardened slime and mold coovers it, obscuring it's specific nature, and yet, most of you (aside from Bryn) have seen enough demons to recognize that this probably belongs to one.

... seems the temple was breached after all ... but if that's the case, why were the temple guardians you dealt with earlier so untouched?

"...How curious," Silmeria murmurs as the arm hits the floor, stepping off of her panel, and moving to crouch an arm's length away from the organic mass. "Green slime mold doesn't usually leave *enough* of a creature to take control of... I wonder how it got this way." Blinking, she looks up at the party, adjusting her spectacles. "...Though I don't imagine we have time for a decent forensic examination at the moment... Would anyone object *terribly* strongly if I secured this for future study?"

Being the one closest to the closing door, Rune steps back as the arm is crunched off and starts twitching and writhing on the ground near her feet. "Well... that was unpleasant." She looks over her shoulder to the others, "Seems like this place may have been breached, after all. Though I can't say I've seen a demon like this before." She resists the urge to go anywhere near the twitching limb, just incase.

"I wonder if that thing found a way in here through some different passage." Rune seems uncertain at that, looking over at Silmeria, "Be my guest? Just... make sure it doesn't get too handsy with you, or... anyone else."

It's *still* twitching as the rooom cycles to its next step. While you're now somewhat turned around, you do have another passage ahead of you, this one apparently a flight of stairs up.

"I don't mean anything by it Hark, I just mean, I'm tiny. That's probably why I can actually fly." Eztli jokes, shortly before being caught off guard by the severed limb and strange... goop. "Is that a demonn? Like, a demon in that goop?" She wonders out loud. "I thought they go back where they came when they die? Unless, it's not?"

She's not sure if she wants to keep thinking about it while still being able to hear it so close by. "There are many ways to go, but going up sounds like a good idea, right?"

GAME: Silmeria rolls perception: (12)+23: 35

GAME: Rune rolls perception: (3)+34: 37

GAME: Eztli rolls perception: (17)+5: 22

"Hmm- hmm. I do fly sometimes, you know." Harkashan remarks, though it's under a specific spell effect of course. He eventually steps off the plate, as the room finishes turning, and then takes a deep breath. "Do we keep moving, or do we keep turning?"

A quick decision renders you heading up those steps. These ones, at least, don't have any music accompanying them, but 'quiet' is nearly impossibe. They're made of metal and some of you, particularly Harkashan, are heavy boys.

As you reach the top of the stairs, you find yourselves coming onto a new hallway. This one splits off in two directions, left and right, after a short walk -- but before you reach the end of it, you're given reason to pause by Rune's perceptive eyes. She's seen something.

It takes a moment for Rune to pause, holding a hand out in a quiet motion as she looks down the hallway. Her brows furrow slightly as she hesitates. "I'm seeing a shimmer in the hallway in front of us. Some sort of illusion but I can't really tell what." As she turns her head to report this to the others, her nose twitches, and then the rogue brushes a few strands of hair back behind one ear. "And there's a breeze, too. One that I don't think should be here."

As Rune mentions seeing strange shimmerings, Harkashan lays his hand on Rune's shoulder. "Here, this should help." He remarks as he lays a spell upon her - causing Rune's eyes to momentarily shine. "Tell us what's on the other side, and then just pull us through."

GAME: Harkashan casts True Seeing. Caster Level: 17 DC: 23

"Well, at least exploring this place is good exercise. Though I think the bodily harm and injury recovery time may negate the benefits." Eztli jokes as she nears the top of the stairs. The makari stops and peers around the others. "Oh, an illusion! I know just the thing! Just- awww." The begin to explain. "Well, that's safer and probably makes sense. I don't have the best track record of dispelling things here, anyways. See anything dangerous past there?"

GAME: Silmeria rolls will: (3)+12: 15

With the arm bundled up as well as she can, Silmeria follows the group up the stairs. But as Rune calls a halt, and explains her reasoning, the Speaker casts an eye over the wall in question. "...You're certain?" she says, brow furrowing. "...Because it looks *quite* solid to me..."

There's doubt in her voice, though, because one thing she's learned over her adventuring years; trust the expert.

Even if the expert in question is metaphorically claiming the sky is the color of cheese.

The moment the spell takes effect, Rune is quick to look back at the hallway, then she pales slightly. It's obvious she's seeing something that the others aren't at the moment. "Ez, Sil, step back for me. Carefully."

It's obvious that the two are a bit too close to... something.

"It... looks like this hallway is some sort of killbox." Rune motions with her hands as she tries to explain what she is seeing. "I'm... not sure I can explain exactly how it works, but trust me, falling here is a quick way to a very unpleasant death." Bringing her hands close together, she mimes out a central pathway.

"There's a safe path in the middle, but we'll have to go single file, keep your limbs inside this space." She mimes out where the edges of the walkway are.

Harkashan, at that description, has immediately flashbacks of him hanging from a rope over a small valley.

Eztli steps back far, and immediately feels relieved at the suggested course of action. "... how in the hells did any priest or priestess go to work here?" They asks incredulously. If it's not being beaten to death by elf statues, it's getting melted by acid or getting killed because you stepped funny. Maybe it was a good thing this place was gone, it's kind of a death trap."

Hurriedly stepping back as instructed, Silmeria listens to the explanation of the trap, eyes wide. "Oh... *Oh.* That... well it would be in poor taste to call that fiendishly clever, but... As a defense against invasion, it is still *quite* efficient."

Her eyes follow the path traced by the rogue, lips pursing for a moment in concentration. "I see... I see. Very well then, lead on! We shall do our best to keep up."

"They likely are in a state of being triggered from during the Invasion." Harkashan offers, as he steps behind Rune. "I do warn, I am not the most... dexterous in the world." And tries to take her hand. "I'd appreciate the assistance."

Bryn has no problems going up. The better stuff is always towards the top, right? Mountains, castles, sewers... so makes sense for temples, too. Then there's the fake walls and ... floor?? "Ye," she agrees with Eztli. "Be terrible workin 'ere if t'was always like that. Tend to run outta priests that way. But good for stoppin interlopers from interlopin... And thanks for the guidin. My seein ain't as good as it used ta be." She also isn't the most nimble, nor petite.

Eztli's question raises a thought that Rune had been mulling over in her head the entire time they've been in the Temple. Something about how everything was laid out and how these 'traps' were made has her looking back at the smaller Makari, "That's the thing, I have a feeling they didn't. Or at least... not when all this was made." Turning to the others, she gives voice to her theory, "It's like... these defenses were hastily made. Maybe they were trapped, under seige, something... It doesn't seem like these were part of the original design and were cobbled together out of necessity."

She takes Harkashan's hand and begins to lead the way through, trying to keep an eye behind her on the others, to provide a warning of their feet stray too close to the edge.

With Rune's guidance, you move down the hallway, single file, and very slowly. As you move ahead, you find out that those two branches of the tunnel ahead were *also* illusions and she passes straight through the smoothed, white wall ahead of her. Following her is easy enough, especially since it helps gird you against the illusion to see it pierced.

Once you're on the other side of the wall, you find yourselves stepping down through a ruined, open door, with shattered emplacements for some kind of weapon on either side of you. No signs of the weapony remains, but the doorway definitely shows sign that this was breached, but yet no dust, blood, or bones were visible. Like it was all washed away. Ahead of you sits a sealed doorway.

A doorway covered in black opal.

"...A defense that wasn't enough, it seems," Silmeria says quietly, emerging into the stairwell and casting her eyes over the ruination. "I can't imagine what it was that made this Temple such a prize... But I do hope the fiends choked on it."

Resting a hand on the wall for a minute, as if pausing to say goodbye to honored dead that are most certainly not present, she turns her gaze to the wall of opal covering the doorway.

"...And what's this...?"

"Maybe, at least some of them. That'd explain why they had an exit in the room designed to melt everyone, maybe?" Eztli suggests as she very carefully follows in the path of Rune. All that dance training paid off here and there, at least.

Then they arrived at the end, looking forward. Eztli visibly winces. "Maybe that opal wasn't evil all along, but it certainly feels like it now. Avoid touching it at all costs, but I think we need to get through there. I could try blowing it up, but that might not be a great idea."

Bryn makes her way carefully, and slowly, along. It's reassuring that Harkashan makes it through without trouble ahead of her, then weird walking through the 'wall.' Then there's the sealed doorway. "Looks like they stopped 'em from gettin in there, maybe? That's good, right?" She peers harder at what's blocking it. "What -is- that?" After Eztli's warning, maybe it isn't so good.

GAME: Rune rolls perception: (18)+34: 52

"Black Opal. Much like those demon-filled crystals we have found around the Felwoods. Aiming to possess the bodies of people." Harkashan remarks as the door is revealed, crossing his arms slowly. "In other words, that there... that is trouble."

Once the team is on the other side, a bit of the tension eases off of Rune's shoulders, but she does look back behind them. It's as if she can't quite shake the sight of the deadly hallway.

"What I really don't like is how clean everything has been. It's really unsettling." Because it is something that Rune has no answers to, unless there are ghostly janitorial staff that have been on duty for hundreds of years.

The warning about the opal has her looking at Eztli, though. "Evil?" One brow raises. Crouching near the door, Rune seems to take care not to touch it directly. "Yeah, I'm kind of seeing what you mean. This opal gives me a really bad feeling. And... I can see these ripples of energy in the stone."